The Next Generation of Deep-Space TelescopesWith Hubble now approaching the end of its scientific life, we take a look at the most exciting prospects of future deep space telescopes.
With Hubble now headed for the end of its scientific existence, a brand-new era of spacecraft is set to blast off in the following couple of years. These missions would possibly alter the best way we see the Universe forever. This article looks at the most exciting prospects of the missions, with easy-to-understand explanations.
Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has produced some of the richest perspectives of the galaxy we've ever observed and some of probably the most spectacular science. In 2015 Hubble has its last servicing project and is predicted to reach the end of its scientific life sometime in 2020. Over this time Hubble has discovered new star-forming areas within the Pillars of Creation, came upon new galaxies within the Ultra Deep Field and created the very best resolution image ever made of the entire Crab Nebula. It all makes you marvel at what the following generation of space telescopes will uncover.
Gaia - Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics
Gaia is an ambitious project to chart a 3-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the procedure revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Gaia will supply unheard-of positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about a billion stars in our Galaxy and right through the Local Group. While this sounds a lot, it in reality amounts to about 1% of the Galactic stellar population.
While surveying the positions of over a billion stars, ESA's Gaia project is also measuring their colour, a key diagnostic to study the physical properties of stars.
Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is a long-term infrared space observatory planned for the mid-2020s. WFIRST is based on a current 2.4m wide field-of-view telescope and can carry two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument is a 288-megapixel multi-band near-infrared camera, offering a sharpness of images like that accomplished by the Hubble Space Telescope over 100 times the area. The Coronagraphic Instrument is a high contrast small field of view digital camera and spectrometer covering visual and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology.
James Webb Space Telescope
James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope as part of NASA's Next Generation Space Telescope program which is scheduled to launch in October 2018. It features a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror and would be the premier observatory of the following decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will learn about every phase in the history of our Universe, starting from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
