The New Generation of Super Telescopes

Astronomers now get new equipment to conduct the search for alien life beyond earth. Three new telescopes, each far more powerful than existing telescope, ready to operate in the near future.

With this new tool questions about possibilities of the origin and evolution of the universe, will be answered, including whether there is any life beyond our planet.

1. JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.

Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto a rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once Webb is in outer space. Webb will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope. (Picture from: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/)

The James Webb Space Telescope was named after the NASA Administrator who crafted the Apollo program, and who was a staunch supporter of space science.

James Webb Space Telescope that will operate from the outer space is the successor to the Hubble telescope that has been aging. Mirror is almost three times larger so the light gathering ability is also much greater.

2. EUROPEAN EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPE (E-ELT)

The European-Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is the largest optical telescope ever built is located on a mountaintop in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Mirror, with a diameter of 40 meters, will produce images 16 times sharper than the Hubble.

European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). (Picture from: http://www.eso.org/)

The telescope will be ready for use in 2022. Resolution E-ELT is expected to be able to take images of new planets outside our solar system directly.

3. SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY (SKA) TELESCOPE

ASTRON – the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy – and IBM have embarked on a Radio telescopes project costing U.S. $ 2.5 billion to develop and build the computer systems that will be needed to support the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope when it begins operations from 2019, in what’s being claimed as one of the most data-intensive science projects ever planned.

Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Telescope. (Picture from: http://engtechmag.wordpress.com/)

SKA radio telescope is located in Australia and South Africa, scheduled to be fully operational in 2024. When combined, the total area of ​​data collection reaches one square kilometer, is composed of 3,000 discs.

SKA has the ability 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than all the other telescopes on Earth. *** [REUTERS | ESO | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | KORAN TEMPO 4036]