After Webb, space will welcome these detection artifacts

For humans, 2021 is coming to an end. But for astronomy, some things are just beginning!

The much-anticipated James Webb Space Telescope (hereinafter referred to as the Webb Telescope) is about to be launched. It is one of the most anticipated scientific instruments ever built. It is expected to allow us to look back in time more than 13 billion years and reveal the atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting other stars.

On the 11th, the Webb Space Telescope was placed on top of the Ariane 5 rocket. Image source: Physicists Organization Network

But this is not the end of the story! In the next few years, several epic astronomical instruments will be launched one by one to reveal the mysteries of the universe from many angles.

In a recent report, the website of the British magazine New Scientist revealed to us the three most anticipated space observation platforms that are expected to be launched before 2034.

PLATO exoplanet search platform

Expected launch date: 2026

The European Space Agency's (ESA) PLATO space telescope will search one million stars outside our solar system to detect and characterize planets orbiting these stars, measuring the radius range, mass and age of these exoplanets with high precision.

"PLATO" exoplanet search platform. Image source: British "New Scientist" magazine website

Scientists have launched similar exoplanet hunters before, but these telescopes can only see planets very close to their stars. PLATO's "eyes" will stay on each star for a longer time, so it has the opportunity to detect planets that are farther away from the star and have longer orbital periods.

What's special about PLATO is that it focuses on searching for "signs" of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone of an extrasolar star system, a narrow region in a star system where the temperature is just right for liquid water. It carries instruments that can characterize such objects, telling scientists how similar they are to Earth.

ESA said that the data provided by "PLATO" will help scientists solve key problems, such as how planets in the Milky Way are formed and evolved? The probability of the existence of rocky planets suitable for the reproduction of life, etc.

Planet Hunter Roman Space Telescope

Expected launch date: 2025

Like the Webb telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (hereinafter referred to as the Roman Telescope), named after the first chief astronomer of NASA and the mother of the Hubble Telescope, is also an infrared telescope. However, unlike the Webb telescope, which focuses on details, the Roman telescope focuses on the big picture, and its panoramic field of view is more than 100 times that of the Webb.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Image source: British "New Scientist" magazine website

In its first five years, the Roman telescope will image more than 50 times the area of ​​the universe that the Hubble telescope imaged in its first 30 years, producing the first wide-area infrared map of the universe. It is hoped that this will help solve mysteries such as the true identity of dark matter and dark energy. Currently, astronomers can see the effects of these substances on the universe, but cannot explain their origin.

Astronomers also expect the mission to find a wide variety of planets using microlensing and transit methods while surveying a large number of stars in the Milky Way. About three-quarters of these planets are expected to be gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, or ice giants like Uranus and Neptune. Most of the rest are likely to be planets 4 to 8 times the size of Earth, so-called mini-Neptunes - there are no similar planets in our solar system.

In addition, in order to further improve the observation efficiency of the Roman telescope, a team of NASA engineers is planning to launch a follow-up space equipment-"Star Shadow". This petal-shaped spacecraft can fly with the telescope, block the light from the sun, and help the telescope see nearby darker planets.

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Expected launch date: 2034

Scientists first detected gravitational waves in 2015. So far, we have seen gravitational waves from the collision of black holes and neutron stars. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), led by ESA, will be a space-based gravitational wave detector that will be much larger than existing ground-based gravitational wave detectors.

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Image source: British New Scientist magazine website

Like the LIGO and Virgo detectors, LISA will detect gravitational waves by sensing extremely small changes in the lengths of multiple fixed laser beams as they interfere over time and disrupt the fabric of space-time.

LISA will consist of three spacecraft arranged in a triangle, 2.5 million kilometers apart. The three spacecraft will be located at the L1 Lagrange point, a gravitational midpoint between the Earth and the Sun, about 1 million kilometers from Earth. It will use the subtle influence of gravitational waves from planets in other galaxies on their parent stars to allow scientists to discover new planets outside the Milky Way.

◎ Liu Xia, Science and Technology Daily reporter

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Editor: Zhang Qiqi

Review: Julie

Final review: Liu Haiying