Astronomy freaks must know all about the James Webb Space Telescope. But for those who don’t, the James Webb Space Telescope is a telescope in space conducting infrared astronomy. Being the largest optical telescope present in space currently, James Webb has high sensitivity and resolution that helps to find objects that are too distant, old, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. The launch of this telescope has pushed the limits of space exploration and blessed us with a lot of brand-new, exciting information about the cosmos.
Can The Telescope Find Habitable Planets?
So, what else is the Webb Telescope capable of? More than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered in the world. Exoplanets are planets that are present in our galaxy, the Milky Way but are moving around other stars. The thing that people are now curious about is if Webb can discover potential alien life on habitable exoplanets. By habitable, it is meant that there is an area around the planet that makes it so that it is neither too cold for a living thing to survive, nor too hot for life-giving water to exist.
Pixabay/Pexels | There are more than 5000 exoplanets in our galaxy right now
The JWST Can Find Habitable Planets
The answer to the above-asked question is: indeed, the James Webb Space Telescope was designed in a way that it can discover habitable exoplanets. However, what it isn’t exactly capable of doing is finding alien life. The Telescope has already discovered evidence of haze and clouds, along with water, in the atmosphere around planet WASP-96b, a puffy, hot gaseous planet located a thousand light years away from our planet and is orbiting a star.
Jeremy Müller/Pexels | James Webb space telescope can find habitable planets but cannot find alien life
Potential Alien Life On Exoplanets
What seems to be the focus of astronomers now is Red Dwarfs. There are more than 75 billion red dwarfs in our galaxy right now, and the high number of these stars makes it possible that there might be at least a few of these stars that have a habitable planet orbiting around them. The planets that are a significant target when it comes to searching for alien life are the ones that are difficult to observe as they appear to be too faint. They are the red dwarfs that have masses anywhere from 0.08 to 0.60 times the Sun. They are difficult to see as they appear to be shining with the help of only 0.05 percent of the radiance of the Sun.
Pixabay/Pexels | Red dwarfs are the smallest yet the coolest stars in the galaxy
The work of the James Webb Space Telescope here is to catch infrared light, and these planets seem to be relatively brighter in the region of infrared, meaning something might be discovered soon!