James Webb’s name was mentioned on multiple occasions thanks to the images of the universe published yesterday by the NASAin which galaxies and stars can be seen as never before captured.
“These images will remind the world that the United States can do great things,” Joe Biden said as he unveiled the first image showing deep space at the White House.
The feat was possible thanks to james webb space telescopewhich has scope to “look back”, as some physicists explain, because the image revealed yesterday by the Space Agency shows the state of the universe 13,000 million years ago, that is, very close to when it was created.
The 10 images, selected by a group of specialists in Baltimore, show a cradle of star formation, a star that recently died, throwing most of its atmosphere into space, so only its core is visible, something that will happen to our Sun in 4.5 billion years; another image of 5 galaxies, of which 2 are merging, as is supposed to happen to the one we inhabit with Andromeda in 500 million years.
According to what Julia Carabias, a Mexican astronomer, expressed, the image shows only one point, similar to a grain of sand, of the entire universe where, as far as is known, there are 100,000 million galaxies, each with 100,000 million stars. ; and each star can have around it a system of dozens of planets, like the Sun.
Who was James Webb?
The $10 billion telescope was named after the scientist who, according to NASA, “did more for science than any other official.” It took three decades to build and, after postponing its launch several times, it set off on its space mission in December 2021.
James Webb was born in 1906 in North Carolina and, surprisingly, he got his bachelor’s degree with a mention in Letters. He joined the United States Marines, where he served as a pilot, while pursuing a law degree.
In 1932 he began his career in the American public service as a secretary to a member of the House of Representatives until World War II, when he rejoined the Marine Corps.
After the war ended, he returned to Washington and worked in the Office of Management and Budget, before serving as assistant secretary of state in the State Department from 1949 to 1952 in the Truman administration.
President John F. Kennedy named him NASA administrator on February 14, 1961, right in the middle of the space race between the Kremlin and the White House during the Cold War.
He was at the head of the Agency during the Apollo project, which managed to take man to the Moon for the first and, until now, the only time in history, for which, through scientific research and development, robotic ships were created that They explored the lunar environment. In addition, he sent probes to planets like Mars and Venus.
By the time Webb retired in July 1969, NASA had launched more than 75 space science missions to study stars, like the Sun, and Earth’s atmosphere.