When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate charge . Here ’s how it works .
China ’s space agency is establish a new quad telescope that will equal current top - tier observation tower . Known as the China Space Station Telescope ( CSST ) , it will not only be as powerful as the cutting - edgeJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) , but will also be to the full repairable and upgradable from space .
The CSST will join the next contemporaries of plot - changing telescopes . These include theEuclid space telescope , which was launched by theEuropean Space Agencyin July 2023;NASA ’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope , which is in its last launch preparation ; and theVera C. Rubin Observatory , a massive ground - establish installation with first Christ Within look this summertime .
These monolithic observatories have a wide range of observational quarry . But one of their primary missions is to bear survey of the mystifying universe to set about to solve a issue ofcosmological mysteries .
Now joining this triplet is another humanity - stratum cosmology observation tower . In Mandarin , the telescope is known as Xuntian , which means " surveying the sky , " which is highly appropriate given its intended commission . Project scientist divvy up new details of the missionin a paperposted to the preprint database arXiv on Jan. 25 .
come to : Can the James Webb Space Telescope really see the past ?
Set to set in motion no to begin with than 2026 , the scope will sport a master mirror with a diameter of 6.6 feet ( 2 meters ) . Even though that ’s somewhat low than the width of theHubble Space Telescope ’s mirror , the CSST ’s advanced optics will give it a field of scene at least 300 times greater than Hubble ’s . Its notice will span the lighting spectrum from cheeseparing - UV to near - infrared .
Chasing cosmic mysteries
With those capabilities , the CSST will do a number of critical tests and measuring .
One of its primary missions will be to measure something call weakgravitational lensing . The light from distant galaxy get more or less bent on its way to us due to the relatively small curvatures of infinite from all the step in beetleweed . By mapping hundreds of thousands of extragalactic nebula and look for for pernicious distortions in their shapes , astronomers hope to build exquisite mathematical function of the statistical distribution of issue in the universe . These map could give scientists clues about the mysterious nature ofdark matter , which makes up most of the existence ’s matter but does not interact with light and thus ca n’t be seen straight off .
At bombastic weighing machine , the CSST will study the statistic of voids and clustering . Voids are the vast , empty part between galaxies , and clusters are dense groupings of galaxies . The dimension of both nothingness and cluster — how big they are , how far aside they are from each other , and so on — depend on the nature ofdark energy , the mysterious substance that seems to be accelerating the expansion of the universe .
To top it all off , the CSST will research for supernovas and measure something calledbaryon acoustical oscillation . The supernova provide a fixed measure to distant galaxies , and the baryon acoustic oscillations are remnant from when the creation was still a plasm , billions of yr ago . Both are lively tools for see the evolution of the cosmos .
— Chinese astronauts make rocket fuel and oxygen in space using 1st - of - its - kind ' contrived photosynthesis '
— ' We do n’t feel strand ' : Astronauts ' stick ' in outer space set the phonograph recording straight
— There was almost 1 rocket launch try every 34 hour in 2024 — this year will be even busier
The CSST will complement the other top - tier up instrument , thus allow for admittance to different region of the existence and to different distances . The Leslie Townes Hope is that all four world - class telescopes will coordinate their efforts .
But the CSST has one more whoremaster up its sleeve . There ’s a reason it has " station " in its name : After launch , it will share an orbit with theChinese Tiangong space station . They wo n’t always fly right next to each other , but their orbits will bring them closely on a regular basis .
This agreement makes it a snap for the Formosan outer space agency to service the telescope , trade out instrument modules , and even perform rising slope — an power the other space - found telescopes will miss . So although those other instruments will have finite lifetime , the CSST may stay on to provide honest , useful cosmological information for many decades into the future .
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again , you will then be prompted to move into your showing name .
