Alexander New Biology
Current Event 8 11/20/16
Citation:
Overbye, Dennis. "Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ Is on Track to Surpass Hubble." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
In the article, “Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ is on Track to Surpass Hubble”, Dennis Overbye describes NASA’s next great space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope is named after NASA Administrator James Webb, who led the space agency in the 1960s. “Now, after 20 years with a budget of $8.7 billion, the Webb telescope is on track and on budget to be launched in October 2018 and sent a million miles from Earth”(Overbye). With seven times greater light-gathering ability than the Hubble, the Webb is designed to see farther out in space and deeper into the past of the universe. The Webb will travel a million miles from Earth into the bitter cold of space to search for infrared light. The two-story high set of mirrors will collect infrared light from objects hidden within dark clouds. It will be folded up into a rectangle for launch, but it will expand once it reaches space. In order to see those infrared colors, the telescope must remain very cold, less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero. This is so the telescope’s own heat does not swamp the heat from outer space. It will use a shield to keep the sun off of it, so that it stays cool. For the next two years, the team designing the telescope is going to put it to the test, to make sure it has no faulty equipment or major design flaws. John C. Mather says, “Our telescope is finished. Now we need to prove it works,”(Overbye).
The Webb may solve mysteries about how and when the first stars and galaxies emerged some 13 billion years ago after the Big Bang. The aim is to explore a realm of cosmic history about 150 million to one billion years after time began. Astronomers do not know the universe has become part of existence, they can only theorize. “They (the astronomers) theorize that an initial generation of stars made purely of hydrogen and helium - the elements created during the Big Bang - burned ferociously and exploded apocalyptically, jump-starting the seeding of the cosmos with progressively more diverse materials. But nobody has ever seen any so-called Population 3 stars, as those first stars are known”(Overbye). The stars that the astronomers are mentioning do not exist in the modern universe, so they must look at them in the dim past, which is where the Webb comes into play. Because the Webb telescope sees in infrared rather than in visible light, it will, make “cosmic postcards” in colors no eye has ever seen.
After reading Alex’s response to an article titled, “Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ is on Track to Surpass Hubble”, I found many positive attributes in the writing and production of this piece. The first positive thing I found in the writing of this article was the use of quotes which give the article credibility. One quote explained when the new telescope will be put into space. Another good thing I found was how in the response, many of the scientists creating this telescope was mentioned such as John C. Mather, one of the designers of the telescope. This gives credit to the makers of the telescope and it is important they receive recognition. Finally, the last thing I found was context, such as some information on previous telescopes such as the Hubble telescope. This gives readers more information to understand the importance of this new telescope.
ReplyDeleteWhile this response was thorough, there can be some improvements made. One thing that can be improved has to do with grammar, which can sometimes be hard. The more important thing to work on would be on fully explaining quotes rather than leaving them without explanation. The last quote of the first paragraph is good for supporting the response, if it had an explanation. Otherwise, this was a decent response.
After fully reading this article, I fully grasped how advanced telescopes as well as technology has come. Even as the Hubble telescope used to be the best of its time, it will soon be surpassed by the new and better. The new telescope is not safe either, and will also be surpassed, but most likely years from now. Given that this new telescope will be put in use, this article also makes me wonder if any other new scientific technology on the level of these telescopes are being put in use.
Sarah Whitney
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
21 November 2016
My classmate, Alex New wrote a review on the article "Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ Is on Track to Surpass Hubble." This review had many good aspects that stood out to me while reading it. First, Alex explained some background of the telescope and what it will do after launching. He stated “The Webb will travel a million miles from Earth into the bitter cold of space to search for infrared light” and also went on to explain how it will collect infrared light. Next, Alex noted that The Webb will help with some scientists’ studies on Population 3 stars. This was good to include because it shows the importance of this telescope. Lastly, I think it was good that Alex pointed out that the original author didn’t describe what the telescope was going to see. This lets the reader understand that he paid close attention as to what was and wasn’t included in the article.
Though there were many great aspects, there are two that Alex could improve upon. First, there were many places where he could expand upon and explain what was being stated. When he stated, “They (the astronomers) theorize that an initial generation of stars made purely of hydrogen and helium - the elements created during the Big Bang - burned ferociously and exploded apocalyptically, jump-starting the seeding of the cosmos with progressively more diverse materials.” I was left confused as to what was being explained. If this was a quote from the article, Alex could mention in the conclusion that there wasn’t enough information being explained. Also, the citations were abrupt and didn’t have any explanation to go along with them, they were just pasted in.
Overall this was a great review that explained a lot about The Webb. I found it surprising that it will be at a temperature of less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero. This is surprising because they will have to build the telescope in a unique way so it doesn’t get damaged because of the temperature. This will change my perception because it shows how far technology has come in this day and age.
Samantha Huss
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
22 November 2016
Overbye, Dennis. "Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ Is on Track to Surpass Hubble." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/science/nasa-webb-space-telescope-hubble.html
Alex New’s review of the article, “Telescope That ‘Ate Astronomy’ is on Track to Surpass Hubble,” by Dennis Overbye was overall very well done. Specifically, Alex did a great job of providing efficient evidence to support his claims. He used facts to support his ideas which helped to add to the legitimacy of his claims. Also, he did a good job of providing background information on the telescope. This made the review clear for the reader and made it easier to understand. Finally, Alex did a good job of pointing out what the author of the article needed to fix. He found legitimate issues with the article which by pointing them out, improved the review.
Although Alex’s review was overall very good, there were a few aspects of it that could be changed in order to improve it. For example, although Alex provided a lot of evidence, he did not always fully explain what it meant or its significance. He could have further explained his evidence and analyzed it to help to reader better understand it. Finally, he also could have worked on the wording and organization of some of the parts of his review. It was sometimes hard to follow and could have been reworded to make this easier for the reader.
Overall, this review was very well done and I learned a lot about telescopes and how they are used. One interesting thing that I learned was that in order to obtain the information which it was designed to collect, the Webb telescope must remain less than forty-five degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero. This was shocking because this is extremely cold and I had no prior knowledge of this.