>> welcome.
For the next few hours and the
next few weeks I will be your
host at the beginning of a new
adventure to find our place in
this vast cosmos and our role in
a story that takes us back to
the beginning of time.
Approximately 30 days from now
NASA and the European partners
will launch a new observatory in
the space of such ambition,
inventiveness, and boldness of
vision that it promises and a
highly new view of our universe,
this is the James Webb space
telescope and this new universe
is almost here.
Standing here on the shore of
the cosmic ocean we are about to
take the next step on a journey
that is as old as a -- old as
humanity itself.
For the first have a look at the
stars and wondered what they
were to the advent of new
telescopes and new technologies
web is next in line to take us
closer to an understanding of
where we are, where we came
from, and also where we are
going, today we will start by
talking but the main science
goals of the Webb telescope in
the dive in, I'm joined by Greg
Robinson who is the program
director of the Greg, Alta
mascot and get closer to you.
You are here to represent a
large team today aren't you?
>> yes I'm here to represent the
team.
I want to thank all the team
joining us today around the
world.
This is a long journey.
And we have a long way to go.
Also I want to think the more
than 10,000 people who work on
Web to make this possible
including our era PAs in space
partners and across 29 states
and 14 countries.
A lot of people went into making
this possible and to give you an
update, status, we completed INT
in Southern California back in
the Summer and we pushed the
boat from late September and it
arrived in October 12.
Since then it is getting ready
in parallel we are processing an
area on five rocket getting
ready and in the few days we
will move over to the
integration facility.
This is not the end, right after
launch in Baltimore will take
over her operations and we have
about six months of
commissioning to get the
spacecraft ready for those first
two big images we spoke a lot
about from the scientists.
I am looking forward to this and
we are getting very very close.
Stay tuned and I am extremely
extremely amazed.
>> it is so wonderful to have
you here thank you for joining
us today.
>> obviously the game --
obviously this represents
thousands of people who work on
this mission for a long time but
if one person had to be the
parent, the father of this would
be my next thing Jon Mather,
Jon, thank you for joining us
today.
>> I am smiling inside my mask.
I am proud to be here as one of
the many fathers and mothers of
this telescope.
Do you know that this telescope
is so powerful that if weighing
240,000 -- 240,000 miles away
this is the distance of the
earth and the moon and we would
be able to see not if you're on
the moon but the distance of the
moon.
What will he do with this?
Look at everything there is in
the universe that we can say.
We want to know how we got here
from the Big Bang, how does that
work?
And so look P Eric we have ideas
we have predictions but we do
not so the way we think it is is
that the universe is expanding.
The speed is proportional to the
distance and then you divide it
and you get the age of the
universe about 13.5 million
years.
What happened to that?
We think the early universe
before they were galaxies and
stars and planets was very hot
and dense and it was a little
bit lumpy which how would you
know that?
NASA launched the satellite
background explore on this day
32 years ago and we measured and
sought not only is the Big Bang
story right but it has a
primordial -- primordial see
that would grow up to become
galaxies so we know the story is
probably right and now we have
movies that we can show that
shows you what the computer
thinks may have happened if this
is the correct story.
That is our idea and now we do
want to check it by observing
everything we can.
What we think happened in the
early times, small galaxies were
formed very the gravitational
forces pulled it together and
they collided with each other
and got bigger and bigger than
the galaxies merged with each
other and that happened and
there was a black hole in the
middle and they already merge
together as well and that's one
of our big questions wear the
holes come from and then the
universe continues to expand in
the galaxies rush apart and we
are here wondering how did this
all happen?
And so we do want to look at
those first galaxies growing and
we also want to look at clouds
of growing -- glowing gas and
dust so it's beautiful to look
at and astronomers will say,
well, what is inside?
So we look at them and they are
dark with dark areas of dust.
But, we can see them with
infrared, infrared light will go
around the dust instead of
bouncing off and so we can see
that with the web telescope
that's one of our top goal is to
see how stars grow with their
young planets.
That is what we will do.
We will look at the Soler system
as well.
Excuse me that was the wrong
word.
We will look at these various
instruments excuse me, I will
see the wavelength range where
we want to show how the web
telescope fits in between the
different instruments that we
had before.
We have different kind of lights
-- light waves on the picture
the Hubble telescope observes
the light as you can see it
observes ultraviolet which will
give you a sunburnt and give you
a little bit of infrared but the
web telescope goes next it
observes the wavelength that you
can see see that it goes all the
way out to infrared 28 microns
wavelength which you cannot see
it all and then it complements
this space telescope that has
been up there for a long time
and has now finished the job and
it went down to even a longer
wavelength.
That is what we and what we are
working with.
We will look at all the objects
in the Soler system, the objects
in the Soler system beginning
with Mars and going all the way
out and so if you look -- we
should not look at it closer to
the sun because the telescope
would get too hot but we can
look at Mars and it's moving of
course we have to be able to
track a moving object looking at
monitors and the orbit around
Jupiter and Europa has an ocean
covered with ice and we know
that because we sent a satellite
to probe it.
And in between the blocks of ice
there are waters that come out
and we will send a mission out
there to fly through the water
jets to see what is the ocean
like maybe it has molecules in
it, may be it has signs of life,
that will be interesting.
We will look at Titan which is a
cold large satellite of Saturn.
It is so cold that it is able to
hold a liquid oceans of methane.
And it has clouds and rain and
rivers and lakes and we are
sending it out there with a
helicopter to fly around and
explore.
We will look at all of these
things way out there, everything
from the most distant galaxies
in the first galaxies in the
early universe to everything at
home and we will look at this
planet around another star.
It's hard to see them but once
in a while a planet will go in
front of it star the star will
blink a little bit and you can
say okay I know there is a
planet there.
Our special capability here is
some of the starlight will go to
the atmosphere of the planet on
the way to our telescope and we
can analyze the atmosphere and
say what is in it?
Molecules are very kind and
especially water which is
interesting.
There is a wet planet out, we
have all the other four
instruments to examine all these
things there is a near red
camera that comes from the U.S.,
there is a infrared spectrograph
that's mostly from Europe with
some United States parts and
there is a mid infrared
instrument a partnership between
Europe and the United States,
and there is far infrared --
near infrared spectrum from
Canada along with the fine bed
detector to make sure we will
get sharp picture, all of these
are complete and working and in
the observatory ready to fly.
If you think about what you will
see with them.
>> it is an honor to have you
here today.
For our next guest, it is
important to remember that this
mission has been an
international partnership from
the beginning and so represented
the European space agency I am
pleased to have with me
Antonella's.
Tell us about the European space
agency contribution to this.
>> it is a pleasure to be here I
want to tell are absolutely
thrilled to be part of this
magnificent mission with NASA
and the Canadian space agency.
It is and an international
partnership over decades of work
on the Hubble space telescope
and we are positive that there
will be future collaborations in
the future because that is the
only way to do these big big and
vicious missions like this.
The contribution to the
providing mission are threefold,
first is a launcher, the
unidentified rocket which is
from the European space team and
if we then deliver this powerful
telescope to the start of the
journey to explore the universe
and and the contribution is
immense.
The new year's back.
Talking about five for just one
more second, the five is
actually an impressive rocket it
is powerful.
It's been in operation since
1996 and it has more than 100
successful launches including --
coming back to the instrument,
what kind of science that the
instrument used?
Before we talk about the
science, I think it is important
to remember that we will of
course take beautiful images but
spectra will be the sign why?
Because Spectra is what tell us
us what materials are made of.
Why the images are beautiful and
spectacular but they tell us the
morphologies and with the object
looks like but astronomers want
to know the composition and so
to do that they need to split
the line and its components like
this it does exactly that, rain
droplets split the sunlight and
its colors we see a rainbow
after the thunderstorm.
The spectrograph will produce
the spectacular information to
use because while an image is
worth a thousand words like we
say spectra for anonymous others
that are astronomers is worth a
thousand images, what kind of
objects with a -- what kind of
objects will they observe?
>> 40 percent of the time during
the first cycle and we look at
one of the things for sure and
that is the distance of the
universe.
If you remember if you remember
the same the same galaxies then
they can take spectra from them
and because of the innovative
design we will be able to take
hundreds of spectra at the same
time in one single exposure
extremely efficient and so we
can't wait to see the first
spectra of the median for the
camera spectra will look through
them the dark and well, for
example, see the emerging stars,
one of the key questions in
astronomy is still, how do stars
farm -- form?
And we will be able to observe
baby stars as they observe their
cocoon the first million years
of their lives like for example,
in like this you can see still
but we know there are thousands
and thousands of baby stars
there we just cannot see them.
And finally, I want to conclude
saying that the European
community is extremely engaged
and committed and ready to go.
We are just waiting.
If we look at the map of Europe
every single thought is an
institution or center that has
played a role in this and so web
is pretty much in every single
one and seven we collectively do
a countdown to gather and count
-- and we cannot wait to see the
first picture.
>> thank you for joining us I'm
glad to know that all of our
European friends are waiting for
the launch as well.
>> keeping on the theme of
international collaboration for
the space telescope, joining us
now from Montréal Sarah
Gallagher represented the
Canadian space agency.
Sarah, it's excellent to have
you here today tell us about
Canada's involvement in web
telescope.
>> thank you Michelle, I am
delighted to be here and we so
proud to be a partner for this
exciting mission.
As we have heard Kennedy is
contributing to important
elements to the web telescope,
the fine spectrograph which we
effectually call Nero and these
two instruments are combined
into a single structure within
the telescope pair these two
contribution showcase our
excellent industrial capacity to
support this astronomy.
The fine guidance Center will be
used between all scientific
observations used by web by
using the star field to
determine exactly where the
telescope is looking the system
will enable what is needed to
give us the exquisite images
that we are still looking for
retail.
Of the Canadian astronomy
community is so excited and
fully engaged in the opportunity
afforded by our participation in
the web telescope and we have
plans of lots of exciting
exploration.
Some of the first studies will
include observations in the
region around the stars to study
how the powerhouses affect their
environment and the studies will
happen early in the observing
plan with some of the early
science observations.
As we get closer to launch we
feel a growing enthusiasm in the
community for the science that
is coming the interest in our
community is broad and touches
on a huge variety of research
topics and astronomy this
includes a detailed examinations
of planets, the world around
other stars, the search for the
first life sources in the
universe, the formation and
evolution of galaxies, the the
life cycles of stars, and the
studies of small bodies such as
asteroids and comets and their
own Soler system.
In fact a Canadian team will
focus their studies on the
atmosphere to determine the
composition of temperatures.
Some of the research team's
targets are rocky planets like,
the team hopes to make the very
first detection of an atmosphere
on such a planet this could give
us clues as to whether or not
the planets are habitable.
Looking toward the farthest back
in time another Canadian team
was that some of the first
galaxies ever formed galaxies
gathered in clusters they will
collect images from these
galaxies at different times over
the history of the universe to
help us better understand how
galaxies evolve over time.
These two programs I just
described both use the Canadian
built web the instrument your.
Were also very pleased and so
proud of the excellent
scientific leadership shown by
early career Canadian
astronomy's who are meeting at
many of these project -- leading
many of these projects are in
the first cycle of observation
this interest from the next
generation it shows the vibrancy
of our community there were will
help discover other worlds,
learn more about the lifecycle
of the stars and point picture
of the early universe and
galaxies.
We are truly looking forward to
this new era in space astronomy
and we cannot wait to get
started.
>> for our next gum guest, one
of the in the telescope family
is close -- Clouse.
Tell about the involvement and
your involvement with James
Webb.
>> as we have heard we about to
go on this amazing journey of
discovery and we really mean
discovery because web has a raw
power to reveal the unexpected
and we can plan what we think we
will save it at the end of the
day we know that nature will
surprise us more often than not
and so this new scientific
territory we call discovery
space and web being a flagship
mission is able to unravel this
discovery space in the way you
do that is you have new
capabilities, new technological
capabilities and Webb does have
that in abundance, for example,
Webb will be able to see in the
infrared phenomenal of stars,
galaxies that are 100 times
fainter than what was previously
possible and so we just cannot
predict what is there and we
sort of do know how this goes
because we can look back to the
Hubble space when Hubble was
launched in 1990 we had not
discovered dark energy which is
is a mysterious force that
pushes the universe apart but
Hubble did discover that.
We did not know of any ask a
planet in existence but today we
know thousands of XO planets and
the most specific discovery as
well for example is Hubble
discovered two new moons of
Keuchel that could help the new
horizons probe who visited that
world a few years ago and we
think Webb will be no different
in that sense.
There are almost 400 individual
investigations already lined up
for the first year of science in
these investigations
representing thousands of
scientists from all over the
world.
And some of those programs will
address questions that we did
not know we had when Webb was
first designed but it has the
power to address them for
example, Webb will look at
colliding neutron stars like
these aquatic cataclysmic
collisions in the debris field
that they create we think it
creates some of the heavy
elements in the universe, some
of the heavy metals most
prominently gold including the
gold that is covering the web
itself.
It will look at the lava planet
where we think it might rain
lava and this will determine
whether that's really true and
finally, it will look at a new
phenomenon that is interstellar,
it.
So bodies or other Soler systems
that at one point in the pass
rejected travel to the universe
4 billion years but for a brief
moment they come through our
Soler system and web is able to
quickly point at them and
understand what they are made of
to tell us if other Soler
systems are made up of the same
materials that our own earth and
sun are and so we think Webb
will probably also reveal new
questions for the future
generations some of whom may not
even be born yet.
>> Thank you for joining us.
For the last guest today we have
Amber who is the deputy project
scientist for communications
here at NASA Goddard space
flight Center and you're one of
my absolute favorite story
tenant Dallas tellers and
astrophysicists and you see this
as an incredible narrative about
our place in the universe is
that correct?
>> absolutely.
My own area of research is how
galaxies change over time and
how they form their stars and
there is a lot about this
overall process that we still
don't understand what we do know
that very distant galaxies are
much different then nearby
galaxies.
But we are kind of missing a
piece of the puzzle that we have
not yet seen the very early
galaxies.
We have 13.8 billion your story
in the universe and we are
missing these few key paragraphs
in the very first chapter of the
story.
What we are trying to do here is
figure out how to put all the
pieces of the story together and
learn more about the hole
process and this was designed to
help us find the first galaxies
and of course course galaxies
are the homes of stars, and
stars of the homes of planets
and planets are the cradles of
life and this our next big step
in our search for potentially
habitable planets other than our
own which is very exciting.
This was designed to answer some
of the biggest questions that we
have in astronomy today and one
of my favorite things about
astronomy in general is that it
really doesn't get right down to
our big questions where we come
from?
How do we get here?
Are we alone?
And these questions are more
than just our science questions
they are questions that get to
the heart of what it means to be
human and Clouse mentioned it
exciting prospect of may be we
will find things that are
unexpected and to me that is the
most exciting part of this hole
mission this idea that there are
surprises that they in the
universe and I think we will
find them, it happens every
single time we launch a big bold
telescope into space and this is
the biggest yet.
>> thank you for joining us we
will talk to you more later.
Before he can learn about the
origin of the universe we have
to get the Webb telescope off
the planet and that is a job for
a big rock at one of the largest
it's the area in five launching
from the Guiana space Center
located in French Guiana to
tropical facility but it's also
a gateway to the stars this
presents a soundscape including
roars of rockets and the sounds
of tropical jungles.
Let's let area in five lead
launchpad.
It's here were mission managers
will not only control the
spacecraft but also gather data
from the telescope scientific
instruments.
What we will do now is take a
quick break and reset the stage
and take a lot of from audience
and also from the media so if
you want to join us with
questions go to hashtag NASA
Webb and we'll be back in just a
few moments we are here at the
Goddard space site Center please
come join us again.
>> welcome back.
This is the prelaunch grieving
for the James Webb telescope.
We now have a panel of all the
guests we heard before will tell
us about the goals of the James
Webb space telescope and take a
lot of questions from the media
in order to get this started I
will now ask the operator, do
you questions in the media to
begin with?
>> the first one is from from
Elizabeth Hall the line is open.
>> among the early observation,
the early programs, have you
selected a onesie yet that will
be having first or quickly after
first flight?
>> what we do first?
>> we have planned the entire
first year of scientific
observations in the highest
priority things we have chosen
some early release science
programs that will be announced
immediately after they are
observed so we will give the
data as soon as we have it for
those great patrons.
And they cover a wide range of
topics all the way from the
Soler system to the lack hole --
black hole, everything.
>> is that answer >> yes it
does.
He could answer the question
from the phone line that.
The next deck -- the next
question is from Stephen Clark
here line is open.
>> I have a follow-up question.
When will the first images be
released?
Will the public be able to see
the images?
During the imaging process I saw
a list of the early science
programs but what will we see
from the early observations or
will be released as a group?
>> we have a wonderful plan for
the early observations these are
to at end of commissioning.
It's about six months.
And we get the final
commissioning fast.
As soon as instruments are fully
commissioned it will happen all
the same time about six months
pass launch.
>> further questions?
>> I am afraid that the speaker
is breaking up a bit.
I'm having trouble
understanding.
Please go ahead.
I'm sorry I hurt you nodding did
you get enough of the question
because of the bit broken up for
me.
>> I did not get the hole
question but I think I get the
gist it is about whether there
is a direct discretionary time
and to summarize, the
discretionary time is time that
is awarded by the director of
the Institute and it is for new
science that appears all of a
sudden that you just must do and
if you have something like that
in the community can propose it
and say we have to do it right
now we cannot wait for the next
opportunity to propose a time
and the director can look at it
and say yes, we should actually
do this.
But it's the same with Hubble
there is the Director's
discretionary time progress.
I hope answers your question.
>> let's have the next question.
>> good morning, on with the
Associated Press.
I'm hoping to get a consensus
from the group this morning, if
the universe is 13.8 billion
years old, how close to the
beginning is Webb actually going
to say?
How far back to Hubble say
question and are there other
telescope devices that have
better records and what will it
take to be able to look all the
way back to the first moments of
the universe and is it possible?
>> Jon is the perfect person for
that question.
>> the first thing that we
observe directly is the cosmic
microwave background radiation
which is the primordial heat of
a very earliest universe and as
mentioned earlier it has hot and
cold spots a bumps in it what
you think eventually grow up to
become stars and galaxies the
first thing you can see with the
telescope is predicted to happen
about 100 million years later so
that is the objective of first
galaxy search.
We think they are out there, we
do not know exactly what they
will be like but we expect to
see little inter- red dots on
the picture that we have to
analyze it to see is it really
what we hope.
It says that they are really far
primordial from the first galaxy
about 100 million years.
>> next question.
>> how far out to the telescope
need to detect the chemical in
atmosphere of the planet?
And also what about the
collaborative program with
gravitational weight vectors?
>> I think it was addressed to
me but I think others could
answer it better.
We can analyze atmosphere of the
planets around other stars
because of the starlight that
goes through the atmosphere's.
And so we do have a list of I
think 65 that we will observe in
the first year and they are
pretty close by were not looking
way to other galaxies were
looking as closed by here
because those are the easiest
and best for us to is that the
main question?
>> I do think cell -- so.
>> I can add to that yes indeed
there are programs that are set
up so that when gravitational
waves detect or see collisions
on the neutron star called
Villanova the web will be able
to relatively quickly go and
look at the debris from those
explosions and see what it's
made of.
There are several programs that
do that.
>> the next question is from
Bill, your line is open.
>> we are all familiar with
imagery but what about images
from data and how images can
compare with this, will they be
as jaw-dropping as Hubble
picture are from a public
standpoint?
In the earlier question aside
from the actual image is can we
follow along as you guys
mirrored is AP segments and can
we go along with the the
wavefront program that you guys
had in the first initial month
people are trying to get
everything lined up.
>> absolutely.
>> the question about will the
images be beautiful is a great
one and the answers actually
absolutely yes, this telescope
will rival Hubble it is a
infrared telescope and so what
the infrared light looks like,
you can get I always tell people
in the assets question, go and
look of the Eagle nebula and so
Hubble has a little tiny bit of
capability in near infrared and
it took a stunning picture of
the nebula and so go look at
that it gives you a hint of how
beautiful we expect these images
to be.
Yep.
They will deftly be beautiful.
>> as far as falling on,
actually we get the news coming
from all the different mirror
sections and focusing.
>> we do definitely plan to keep
the committee updated on the
hole commissioning process all
along the way here in there are
a lot of different ways of doing
it.
We of course can send out press
releases with the milestones and
have constant social media
updates on our social media
channels.
We will have a weekly blog so if
you go to our website -- it gets
more into the technical aspect
so if you do really want to
learn about some of the details.
You can do that, there are a lot
of different ways to keep up
with what's going on.
>> I cleared my calendar after
December 18th because we will
have many different briefings
and ways that people can see
what is going on and get the
news out here >> the next
question is from Johnny.
>> I'm from London here in the
UK.
Will we be able to see the black
hole?
What kind of blackhole?
>> I believe there is a number
of you that can answer the
question if you want to go
ahead.
>> I can give us a shot, part of
the question was how long will
it take for web to make an
extreme ultimate deal like
Hubble did?
Hubble created extreme deal that
was days and days of exposure
time Webb will do that in a
couple of hours in the
wavelength where they have an
overlap of course there are two
wavelengths where Hubble could
not operate and so what we will
see there is there is no
comparison but there are
programs in the first year or
two not quite go days and days
and days but it will go I the
most 60 hours deep images and it
will be very exciting.
>> any any follow-ups?
Anything else?
Are we good?
>> the black hole question.
>> yes that is right observing
the black hole.
>> what kind of blackhole is
this kind of timer?
>> in the early universe sure.
Actually one of the puzzles that
we want to follow his have the
big giant super mass hole got so
big so fast some of the
supermassive black holes are in
the universe now and are much
bigger than we should expect
based upon our ideas of how
galaxies build up over time.
We should be able to see the
supermassive black holes even
further out in the more distinct
universe and I will certainly
help us pieced over time.
>> we have more questions for
the media.
>> >> is is a question on analog
and exit planet?
>> right, if you mean an
earthlike planet like Earth size
with the same distance toward
the sun but with a Sun -like
star, Webb would not
characterize the atmosphere of
such.
It will characterize the
atmospheres of planets around a
much smaller stars than the it
is a bit easier to do and they
can still be habitable and I
think one of the is to
understand some of the
properties of habitability but
it will not be a true earth
analog.
>> this system is a good example
of planets that orbit around by
June -- a bunch of smaller stars
and we have excellent data of
that Summer infrared.
-- and some are infrared.
>> I'm so sorry you're bringing
up.
>> the Duke discretionary time,
what will it be used for?
>> it's used in two ways, one
that it will do something as a
follow-up on discovery something
that can wait for the next time
but directors in the pass have
also use this to allocate
compelling scientific ideas for
Hubble this was a discretionary
one so it's important to
remember that there is duality
in the discretionary time and it
can be used for both the
community always has great input
in deciding where to put this
energy and tries to solve it.
>> I think the early release
program is also discretionary.
>> we will get one more question
from the media.
>> thank you for the 100 million
earmarks but what's the current
record in the furthest back in
time scientists have seen to
date with what instrument and is
it possible to ever get closer
than what we will do with the
hundred million earmarks?
>> telescope has pushed the
million to 400,000 years after
the Big Bang so I think there is
a gas as to whether it will be
400 million years and
100 million years as Joe was
talking about, there is a
interval perhaps where there is
a baby universe and we will
present a view that we have
never seen before.
>> Jon, develop, is there any
way to actually look further
back than the microwave
background radiation?
>> we can only look further and
our imagination so we have lots
of theoretical stories that we
tell and calculations that we
make but there is nothing to
look at directly, we have
evidence of a very very very
early times that are found in
the polymerization of the cosmic
my ground -- migrate back around
but that's not something the web
will address their other
projects that are on the way.
>> I believe we have a question
coming from a highschooler in
New York.
In social media okay and getting
a number of different social
media questions.
Okay, this one says, okay, what
makes you think you will be able
to find habitable acts of
planets now and will there be
follow on missions to get better
observations?
>> I think it's critical about
what will come after this and
yes there is just the process
that was a survey with
astronomical community comes
together and they talk about the
most important thing to do in
the highest priority of that
survey was indeed we need to
make a telescope after this that
can actually observe earthlike
planets and earth analog around
Soler -type stars which is very
exciting but that is in a more
distant future.
>> many of these questions for
along the same theme and this is
a big complex mission people are
saying are you nervous about
lunch, are you excited, tell us
about the the testing and making
sure this thing works and how
you're feeling about it.
>> I certainly am excited but I
am not nervous.
We have a great that is working
on the telescope and they go
through all the best practices
and engineering units and we
test at different levels as we
build up to the telescope side
and we test as much as possible
and practical.
We test it the same way that it
will operate in space upon
launch and so we have done all
of that and I think that we are
in good shape but I will say on
launch day I do get and I do
just expect that so that does
not >> we spoke about the first
galaxy and how web hopes to
observe that but there also
questions involving the first
stars and for the first stars be
very different than the stars we
see today?
>> Jon is expert in this but so
it seems at the very first stars
that formed on the earth were
very very big, very massive,
much bigger than the normal
stars in a nearby Milky Way
galaxy and they also lived out
their lives extremely fast
because they were only made of
Hadrian that hydrogen and helium
and of the heavier elements that
cause stars to move more slowly
in their lives so we have never
observed these first population
of stars and we certainly hope
you might get lucky and see
them.
But we are not sure if we will.
It's one of those things about
trying to find things we have
never found before is that we
certainly do hope to see them
but we don't know if we well but
yes, we are excited because the
first stars are totally
different than our normal stars.
Jon may have more to add.
>> one thing about them is even
with the great web telescope you
cannot see them individually in
the normal lives but they do two
things, they come in herds,
hundreds or thousands or
millions of them together and
then you can see them and then
it looks like a new galaxy they
also blow up when they are old
which is not very old a few
million years it takes to burn
out and then they become what we
call a supernova which is as
bright as a hole galaxy is today
though there are things we know
that we can see if they are out
there but they're hard to find
and that's the big challenge to
find them and then study them in
depth.
>> absolutely.
>> I believe that we have
another question from the media.
>> what is the exact date that
this is scheduled to begin and
how long will it last and also
could you provide a couple of
astronomical targets for these
images?
>> please repeat these
questions.
>> it is what date is currently
on the calendar to begin and how
long will it take?
>> the exact date, I do not have
that for you but it will start
in the next few days.
Right now before Thanksgiving we
will say.
That still keeps us on track to
launch on 18 but as far as
feeling, we just tap it off like
you do in a car with the gas
tank.
And we know that we will have
full -- feeling for at least ten
years and probably much longer
unless we have some mandatory
burns that we have to do early
on actually separate from the
rocket to keep us on course for
around two and we will use some
burns as we need to along the
way if you will burn -- the more
fuel burned the better for
long-term life of the
observatory right now we do
expect many years beyond ten
years of fuel.
>> that was actually referring
to how long the process of
telescope for launch takes.
I know you said you don't have
the exact date but would it be a
week or a couple of days?
>> fueling takes ten days to two
weeks from start to finish.
>> my other question if someone
could give us a couple targets
that might be among these first
image release targets.
>> the first image, the first
science images we expect our
secret.
We don't release that to the
public, we wanted to be a big
surprise, I don't even know what
they are so it will be a
surprise for >> and social media
we have some fans of Canada here
so we will go back to Sarah in
Montréal, Sarah can you tell us
more about different missions
that the Canadian space agency
is collaborating with NASA on?
>> absolutely.
Canada has been collaborating
with NASA for the beginning.
The partnership goes back more
recently for astronomy we
provided the center for the
ultraviolet fuse mission which
was the precursor to the
guidance center being provided
with a web telescope.
And we partnered with NASA on
space astronomy but also other
space domains for example, in
earth observations, weather, and
lots of other domains and we
also know this is a long story
and history, the community is a
very tight and combined and we
have a lot of partnerships and
projects in common.
A lot of the science plans for
James Webb involved
international partnership that
Canadians are active with
everyone around the world.
These are truly collaborative
and we need to work together to
achieve big dreams.
It's too much for any one
nation.
Partnership is part of the
endeavor.
>> we spoke about the first
stars in the first galaxies and
there are some questions about
the more close Soler system
observations.
We know at the opening Jon you
mentioned things like like
Europa and Titan and the
question is, can you give us
specific ideas about what they
want to observe and place like
Europe and Titan.
I do not have many details to
give but I do know that they are
interesting to me so I am
pleased our Soler system experts
have chosen these targets and
basically everything you have
ever heard of the Soler system
we will look at it.
On Europa we will see, can we
see the water jets coming out?
For Titan we want to see what's
it like where really in the
helicopter.
Everything that we of the
encounters that were planning to
do would be good to do now.
We certainly will look for the
interstellar comments that might
be coming through from from
other places, we don't have one
in mind yet.
But certainly we do expect them
to come, we are getting better
at finding them.
Everything from the farthest out
the closest in which is Mars.
>> we have another question for
the media.
>> >> this is a question for
Sarah and that is, [INAUDIBLE].
>> listed by the fine guidance
sensor.
>> I can provide some details
for this.
The hole system need to have a
camera that looks at the
Starfield and then the system
determines very precisely where
the telescope is actually
pointing and so that becomes
part of the feedback loop where
that information is fed back
into the overall system and
points the telescope there is
also a mirror that can actually
keep the image steady so you
don't necessarily have to move
there are motions of the
telescope does and then there
are fine motions in position in
the very fine motions are
actually here by the mirror.
It is just a piece of the hole
system but it does take
information from the Starfield
and incorporated in so that's
all the keeping the telescope
telescope pointing precisely.
>> do you know how far they may
interact?
>> I do not know it offhand, we
can get the information for you
but I do not know it off and.
>> the second was about
gravitational lensing and how
Hubbell had used something
similar in the pass, we want to
do gravitational lensing >>
Hubbell has discovered and
others have also discovered that
gravity will bend light.
It's like having an extra lens
on the telescope way at their
peak we are have -- we have
surveyed the hole sky and we
know hundreds already we have
chosen a list where we think the
best sides to see something
further away that is highly
magnified by the slanted space
so we see these beautiful
circles and picture where the
distant galaxy has been
magnified but distorted by an.
It is one of the most important
things from the field.
>> one of the early science
programs, the very first data
that was taken the first year
dealt with this exactly through
these gravitational lenses.
>> Sarah, is there something you
wanted to add for the last
question?
>> one of the Canadian programs
that we have will be using the
nearest instruments and looking
at gravitational planets taking
advantage of those cosmic
magnifying glasses in order to
look at very very distant
galaxies behind these massive
clusters and then study their
properties to learn much more
about the shape of them and what
they are doing and are they nice
and organized and are they
structured?
Those are the kinds of questions
that we have a program to
address this issue.
>> does that conclude the
question to the media?
Do we have anything else that if
a question for Bill hardwood.
>> you mentioned seeing the very
first light from clouds from the
very first stars, do you guys
expect galaxies to exist at that
point, I am just wondering where
we can solve this chicken and
egg thing in terms of what came
first.
>> are you asking about
galaxies?
>> obviously comes from stars
that you -- do you expect
galaxies to be be assembled or
is it still farming -- forming
as as far back?
>> we do expect galaxies to grow
over time, they grow as a
gravity pulls a bit together in
the has galaxies pulling
together.
We see the stars and as was
mentioned earlier they only last
for a few million years each.
Each.
For us to see a galaxy it is
many many stories that light up
the same time that we are
looking.
We certainly do expect to see
the collective effect of many
many individual stars but, for
us, one of the big to the stars
make the black holes are due the
black holes help make the stars?
That is a chicken and the egg
question that we are very much
worried about.
>> okay we are going to wrap up
the questions at the time and
that's all the time we have for
this briefing and it has been
wonderful to be here with this
incredible panel there is so
much more to share about this
exciting mission I hope you join
as at 2:00 Eastern time today
because we will have another
impressive team of engineers and
mission planners to walk us
through the future of technology
that enables this golden eye
that we have and find what is
out there.
Thank you for joining us.
Please join us for the
2 pm briefing.