The James Webb Space Telescope hunt different types of Habitable Exoplanets. But its journey of cosmic discovery has only just begun.
One of the great promises of the James Webb telescope is its ability to study the earliest phase of cosmic history, shortly after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.
The more distant objects are from us, the longer it takes for their light to reach us, and so to gaze back into the distant universe is to look back in the deep past.
Astronomers have so far gone back 97 percent of the way back to the Big Bang, but "we just see these tiny red specks when we look at these galaxies that are so far away.
Using James Webb Space Telescope, we'll finally be able to see inside these galaxies and see what they're made of.
Analyzing the light spectrum of an object reveals its properties, including temperature, mass, and chemical composition—effectively, forensic science for astronomy.
James Webb telescope to investigate atmospheres and possible presence of water on "exoplanets". Types of exoplanet: (over 5,000 confirmed discoveries)
Giant planet composed mainly of gas like Jupiter, Saturn (11 and 9 times larger than Earth).
Gas Giant
Gaseous worlds around size of Neptune (4 times size of Earth).
Neptune-like (Ice giants)
A class of planet not found in our solar system. At least twice size of Earth, can be made of gas, rock or both.
Super Earth
A rocky planet like Earth, between half to twice its size.
Terrestrial
Finding traces of life there, if they exist, will still take time, according to Lim. But "everything we're doing this year are really important steps to get to that ultimate goal."