JWST Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

July 12, 2023July 11, 2023

Searching for Signs of Alien Life

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is searching for signs of alien life in the universe. NASA’s astrobiology program is renewing efforts to answer the question, “Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?” We find life all over this planet. Life is everywhere on Earth, from frigid climates to arid deserts and ocean depths to mountaintops. But does it exist anywhere else?

Currently, NASA is searching for microbial life on Mars with two robotic rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance. Those rovers are exploring rocks in fossilized waterways on the planet, seeking any indication that microbes once lived there. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working to develop a Mars sample return mission to bring rocks back to Earth for closer examination.

In December of 2018, NASA spacecraft “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer” (OSIRIS-REx) arrived at the asteroid Bennu after traveling for two years. It orbited Bennu to map the surface and find a good landing spot to obtain samples. In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx touched down on the asteroid, procured a sample, and prepared it for delivery to Earth. In May 2021, the spacecraft departed from Bennu and is expected to arrive back home in September 2023. Scientists will then study this very expensive rock sample, searching for signs of alien life.

Astrobiologists are hopeful that Enceladus and Europa, moons of Saturn and Jupiter respectively, might support some form of life now or in the past. The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is also involved in the search for alien life. It can detect “biosignatures” around exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system. In all these ways, NASA is searching for signs of alien life in the universe.

Heather Graham, a NASA astrobiologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, says, “We don’t actually know yet how life on this planet began….” Of course, NASA is looking for some natural explanation of how life began. Graham further said that we must “roll back that clock to see how life began.” Why not roll back the clock all the way to the beginning? Science can’t explain how the universe began. Not very long ago, scientists thought the universe was eternal, and they made fun of the idea that the universe had a beginning. However, they reluctantly had to admit that the evidence shows there was a beginning, as Genesis has said for thousands of years.

Perhaps some are motivated to search for signs of alien life to show that God is unnecessary. Will science someday find that there is life, even microbial life, elsewhere in the universe? Perhaps, but if there is, God created it since He created the universe.

Reference: “Is There Life Beyond Earth?” on YouTube

May 9, 2023May 9, 2023

Seeing Invisible Light

In ancient times, people looked up into the night sky in wonder. Without modern light pollution, they could have seen the stars more clearly, but they had only their unaided eyes to see the majestic sky. The first revolutionary change occurred when Galileo made and used an optical telescope. However, he was limited by being able to see only the visible spectrum of light. Today, astronomy involves “seeing” invisible light.

Light is electromagnetic radiation, and our vision can detect only a very narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum. But astronomers today have instruments that allow them to “see” light frequencies in wavelengths outside the human vision range. Yesterday we discussed two portions of the spectrum invisible to our eyes – radio waves and microwaves. Those frequencies can tell us many things about the universe God created. Today, we will examine more ways of seeing invisible light.

The higher the light frequency, the shorter its wavelength. Microwaves have wavelengths between one meter and one millimeter. The next higher frequency of light has wavelengths below one millimeter, so they are called submillimeter waves. One weakness of optical telescopes is that visible light can’t penetrate clouds of gas and dust in regions where stars are forming, but submillimeter waves can. However, water vapor in our atmosphere absorbs submillimeter waves, so astronomers build observatories for studying them in dry, high-altitude locations such as the mountains in Chile and Hawaii.

We find infrared light at even higher frequencies and, thus, shorter wavelengths. Although we can’t see infrared energy, we can feel it as heat. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) leads the revolution in infrared astronomy. Scientists have used infrared sensors to measure the temperature of stars, including our Sun, but the Webb Telescope takes that to a new level. It can detect emerging stars hidden by clouds of dust and gas. The JWST can also observe matter that is only a few degrees above absolute zero. In only its second year, JWST has sent back images that allow us to see space objects we have never seen before.

Just above the infrared frequencies, we find optical light. Optical telescopes have been showing us many features of the universe since Galileo, but they have limitations. Not all objects in space produce optical light. For example, we can only see the planets in our solar system because they reflect the Sun’s light. Also, our atmosphere scatters optical light giving us the blue sky in the daytime and atmospheric blurring of the stars at night. Optical telescopes are usually the only option for amateur sky watchers, but for the sharpest viewing, professional astronomers locate their optical telescopes on tall mountains or in space. The Hubble Space Telescope is the leader in optical astronomy.

Although visible light can tell us much about God’s creation, seeing invisible light has opened a new understanding of how the Creator has produced the elements essential for life. Three types of light have higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths than visible light. Those short wavelengths contain the energy to harm or destroy life, but God has provided the protection we need. We will look at that tomorrow.

Find more information about this picture at Sace.com.

December 21, 2021December 22, 2021

The What and Why of JWST

If all goes as planned, Christmas Eve will see the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or WEBB). It has been a long time in the making with many delays and cost overruns, but it seems that the time has finally arrived. The JWST was supposed to launch in 2007 at the cost of $1 billion. Now it is launching at the end of 2021, and the price has escalated to $10 billion. Let’s examine the what and why of JWST.

First, the what of JWST. The James Webb Space Telescope is a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble). It is intended to be a space observatory with capabilities far beyond HST, which was launched in 1990. NASA designed the JWST, and Northrop Grumman built it in California. The European Space Agency will launch it from their launch site in French Guiana, South America.

The why of JWST is that scientists expect it to revolutionize astronomy and expand our knowledge of the universe. Science and technology have made great strides since Hubble was launched and even since astronauts repaired and updated it, most recently in 2009. JWST will observe the universe in infrared light, while HST is limited to visible light. Because galaxies farther away are retreating at increasing speeds, their light shifts toward the red or infrared spectrum. Scientists hope that JWST can observe farther back toward the cosmic creation event known as the big bang. Because of that, astronomers expect to learn more about the formation of stars and galaxies.

Earth-based telescopes must always observe the universe through our atmosphere with particles, pollution, and moisture. That limits their ability to obtain sharp, precise images. Space-based telescopes, like Hubble, eliminate that problem. Webb will give much sharper images with its mirror made of beryllium coated with gold and a diameter more than 2.5 times as wide as Hubble’s.

JWST will locate itself at the Lagrange point where the gravity of Earth and Sun balance each other. That is 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth. Repairs or upgrades such as those performed on Hubble will not be possible at that distance. That means everything will have to perform flawlessly when the telescope reaches its destination. Deploying the mirror, sun-shield, super-cooling equipment, and telemetry equipment will take a month, which NASA has called “29 days on the edge.”

Another thing that astronomers hope to study with JWST is dark matter, the stuff that’s out there but cannot be seen or detected by any means science has discovered. The way they know dark matter must be there is that it holds the galaxies together. Physics cannot explain why spinning, spiral galaxies, such as the Milky Way, do not fly apart because of centrifugal force. Astronomers hope that JWST’s high-definition images can at least show us where the dark matter is by what they call “gravitational lensing.”

So that is the what and why of JWST. We are excited to see the new images of the universe the James Webb Space Telescope will capture. As we learn about the formation of stars and galaxies, it opens the door to knowledge of God’s handiwork, allowing us to say, “So that’s how God did it!”

Reference: You can find much more about the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s fact sheet at THIS LINK.