A team of astronomers is reviving an idea that NASA built side by side a decade ago, in which a huge observatory will be installed on the moon. Dubbed the “ultimate big telescope”, the feature will easily perform with every other telescope in its class and spot in projects that has been predicted by theory but has never been seen.
The giant liquid-mirror telescope installed on the lunar surface can do a job that no other telescope can do: it detects the signs of the first stars in the universe. Also very powerful, which is the next James Webb Web Space Telescope Scheduled To launch on October 31, 2021, the early stars will not be seen.
This is the argument of astronomers at the University of Texas at Austin, who published the Astrophysical Journal (a. Print Print Currently available on Archive).
The concept dates back to 2008, when a team of astronomers from the University of Arizona Notified Lunar Liquid Mirror Telescope. NASA later flirted with the idea but eventually abandoned the concept due to a lack of science related to the stars of population III – the first stars to appear in the universe. The telescope on the moon will be able to go into space without obstruction by atmospheric effects and light pollution.
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“Throughout the history of astronomy, telescopes have become more powerful, allowing us to examine sources from earlier cosmic times, which are always closer to the Big Bang,” said Walker Brom, co-author of the paper. Statement From the University of Texas MacDonald Observatory. “The upcoming James Webb Web Space Telescope will arrive at the time when the galaxies were first formed.”
The problem is, smaller galaxies, as powerful as JWST, will not be able to detect small, obscure objects that existed before the formation of the Pop III stars. “The very first release moment goes beyond the capabilities of the powerful JWST, and needs a ‘final’ telescope instead,” Brom said.
The third star popped up Existence A few hundred million years After the Big Bang, Produced from a mixture of hydrogen and helium gas. Theory suggests that they wThere is nowhere anywhere from ten to hundreds of times larger than our Sun, but even then, there is no match for the size and brightness of the entire galaxy. As such, the Pop III stars have excluded the investigation.
That said, the authors of the new study, led by NASA Hubble colleague Anna Scour, argue that the Pop III stars should be detectable. We have to find their spawning ground right now, which is expected to take the form of “miniholes”. The early stars were born inside Small Proto galaxies, But As the authors write in their paper, the luminosity of these objects and budgets “cannot be detected even by the longest exposure time.”
“Our neighboring galaxy Andromeda has about a trillion stars, and we can only see it with the naked eye in very dark places on E.Earth, “Scare explained in an email. “These first small galaxies have 10 to 1000 stars, and they are very far away – it took them more than 13 billion years to reach Earth. Playing with both factors, and we expect the Miniholos to be about 100 trillion times stupid than Andromeda. “
By studying the third and third stars, we can study the conditions of the early universe, he added.
“Initially, the U.S.Variety, before the stars appeared, the visible object was composed only of hydrogen and helium. Stars are needed to create a ‘race’ of higher elements, for example oxygen and carbon, which are essential for life, “said Square. “We run computer simulations to better understand the Pop III stars, but we are not yet sure how big and big these first stars are and if they form into large or small clusters. These questions can be answered with observations. “
Only a lunar observatory there can help. And indeed, Schauer and his colleagues ran numbers, discovering that a large enough mirror-telescope on the lunar surface should do the trick. Nive Drory, co-author of MacDonald Observatory and senior research scientist, said the proposed final large telescope was “perfect” for the challenge.
Located at the moon’s north or south pole, the stationary mirror will measure around 328 feet (100 meters). The telescope will be operated by an autonomous and nearby solar power station. The observatory will transmit data to a satellite placed in lunar orbit.
The mirror of the telescope will be made of liquid, as opposed to glass (this solution is lighter and cheaper in terms of transport). The liquid must constantly spin in the mirror to maintain a parabolic shape. A metallic liquid will cover the top layer of the mirror to give the required reflection. To prevent excessive heat from spoiling the show, the telescope effect will be built inside the crater and placed in permanent shade.
Although the authors write, however, “it is not clear what effect the lunar dust will have on the instrument and observations.”
As Pierre goes into the universe, eventually a large telescope will freeze on a single strip of the sky to absorb as much light as possible, as it detects miniholes in close infrared and extreme redshift (the light of objects is very red) – meaning the expansion of space The wavelength has been extended by – it’s too far, and the more time we’ll see in space, the more time we’ll see.) As the authors noted in their paper, the miniholes should produce a distinctive signature, so they should be “definitely identified.”
Sure, we won’t be looking directly at the Pop III stars, but we’ll look at their creation sites – a kind of smoking gun for their survival, and the next best thing.
Looking ahead, Square is excited about the inauguration of JWST, which will allow scientists to study the early universe, including the first pay-generation of stars that appeared after the formation of the star III.
“For the future, I hope that both theorists and observers will work together to develop technology for this.Next to the telescope, ”he said. “I also hope that people will return to itOn, possibly to set up a site where ULT can be created. “
This is not the only proposal to build a giant telescope on the moon. NASA JPL robotist Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay has outlined his vision for the lunar observatory, which will be built inside a huge impact pit. Ultimately unlike large telescopes (which will detect sources of infrared light), this Lunar Crater Radio Telescope There will be an ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope capable of detecting some of the weakest and most distant signals traveling through space. Bandyopadhyay’s project Currently In one phase of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
Maybe one day we will finally see the NASA NIAC phase for a larger telescope. The first stars are rising impatiently.
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