5個原因解釋詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠鏡的重要性

為什么詹姆斯·韋伯太空望遠鏡如此重要的5個原因

1. It's powerful.

它是很強大的

"It is the biggest, most powerful telescope ever to be put in space. There are big telescopes on the ground but nothing of this nature and complexity in space. Hands down, it's the most powerful thing out there." The Webb is the successor to Hubble, and it's 100 times more powerful. Webb also has a much bigger mirror than Hubble, explains the Webb telescope site: "This larger light-collecting area means that Webb can peer farther back into time than Hubble is capable of doing. Hubble is in a very close orbit around the earth, while Webb will be 1.5 million kilometers away."

“這是有史以來體積最大、功能最強大的太空望遠鏡，地面上有大型望遠鏡，但在太空中沒有這種性質(zhì)和復(fù)雜性。毫無疑問，它是最強大的。”韋伯是哈勃的繼承者，它的威力是哈勃的100倍。韋伯望遠鏡的網(wǎng)站解釋說，韋伯還有一個比哈勃大得多的鏡子：“這個更大的光收集區(qū)域意味著韋伯可以比哈勃更深入地觀察時間。哈勃在離地球非常近的軌道上，而韋伯將在150萬公里之外。”

2. It's a time machine of sorts.

它是一臺時光機

"Hubble, when pushed to its maximum, could see galaxies that were teenagers in terms of age. We want to see babies," Bullock says. "With the Webb, we will be able to see back in time to the earliest objects in the universe for the first time. Also for the first time, we will be able to characterize other planets going around other stars, distant exoplanets, and see if there are oceans, an atmosphere, what chemical elements are there."

“哈勃望遠鏡被推到最大時，可以看到從年齡上算還處于青少年時期的星系。我們想看到嬰兒。”布洛克說，“有了韋伯，我們將能夠第一次看到宇宙中最早的物體，同時，我們也將第一次能夠描述圍繞其他恒星運行的其他行星，遙遠的系外行星，看看是否有海洋、大氣層，以及那里有什么化學(xué)元素。”

3. It will help us map the universe.

它能幫助人類了解宇宙

"The Webb telescope won't be able to decisively say there's definitely life on a planet or not, but it begins to map out that space and say, 'That may be an ocean there,' which gives us a road map to probe further and really investigate." Webb will peer into the universe in the infrared, which is important because newly forming stars and planets are hidden behind dust that absorbs visible light — but infrared light can penetrate that dust.

“韋伯望遠鏡并不能果斷地判斷一個星球上是否有生命，但是它可以標(biāo)示出某個星空并告訴我們‘這里可能有海洋’，這可以給我們一個深入研究調(diào)查的方向。”韋伯在紅外線模式下可以探究宇宙，這是很重要的，因為新形成的恒星和行星都藏在吸收了可見光線的灰塵后面，紅外線可以穿透灰塵。

4. And it may help us find the next Earth.

它可能會幫助我們找到下一個“地球”

"We're planning to investigate the nature of dark energy in the universe, and understand the nature of these very old objects. And characterizing planets around other suns puts us on the path to finding out if there’s another Earth out there." The Webb will also assist in the hunt for exoplanets, something that Hubble does but was not designed for, according to Space.com.

“我們計劃研究宇宙中暗能量的性質(zhì)，并了解這些非常古老的物體的性質(zhì)，對其他太陽周圍的行星進行表征，使我們走上了探索是否有另一個地球存在的道路。”韋伯望遠鏡還將協(xié)助尋找系外行星，據(jù)Space.com網(wǎng)站報道，哈勃望遠鏡的任務(wù)是尋找系外行星，但它的設(shè)計初衷并非如此。

5. It's a technological coup.

它是一場技術(shù)革命

"It has the potential to fundamentally rewrite our textbooks because of how dramatically it will increase our view of the cosmos," Bullock says. "We will be able to get a much better grasp of the universe we live in. Technology-wise, we are already seeing the implications."

“它有從根本上重寫我們教科書的潛力，因為它可以顯著地增加我們對宇宙的認識。”布洛克說，“我們將會對我們生存的宇宙有更深的了解。在技術(shù)層面上，我們已經(jīng)看到了預(yù)示。”