NASA's new generation of space telescopes will be launched, the target planet has been locked

Since 1996, NASA has planned to build a new type of extremely sophisticated space telescope, and at this time, mankind has just discovered the world of planets beyond the solar system, for the possible existence of life in the universe of exoplanets, but also full of curiosity and expectations.

So, the James Webb Space Telescope was born, however, on the issue of the launch, but has been repeatedly postponed, from the earliest scheduled launch in 2014, became expected to launch in October this year, of course, as the most powerful planetary hunter in human history, many researchers believe that the James Webb Space Telescope, once launched successfully, will soon discover extraterrestrial life for mankind.

A different kind of alien world

Up to now, scientists have identified more than 4,000 exoplanets through more than 20 years of observational research, which, of course, means that mankind has found more than 4,000 extraterrestrial worlds.

However, along with the discovery of more and more exoplanets, scientists have also discovered a strange problem: both the number of planets and the distribution of planets in our solar system are very special.

Take Jupiter, which is in the middle and outer position in the solar system, while in other star systems, the Jupiter-like planets are all orbiting right next to the star, which means that the Jupiter-like planets outside the solar system are, in fact, hot Jupiters.

At the same time, researchers also found that although the Sun, as a star, is not the smallest one in the universe, in comparison, the Sun is a yellow dwarf, orange dwarf, and red dwarf are much smaller than the Sun, but the Earth-like planets outside the solar system, but generally larger than the Earth, scientists also called these Earth-like planets, "super-Earth". The planets are also known as "super-Earths".

The solar system and the planets in the solar system, in contrast to a large number of exoplanets, also seem particularly strange, some believe that perhaps this is the reason for the existence of life in the solar system.

So, how have scientists searched for exoplanets in the past? I believe we all know that the planets themselves are not luminous, but the planets orbiting around the stars, when the planets periodically pass through the surface of the star, will make the surface of the star, the appearance of periodic shadows, and by looking for such phenomena, you can lock the existence of exoplanets.

In addition to the more than 4,000 exoplanets confirmed so far, scientists have also found tens of thousands of candidate exoplanets through observational studies, which will further increase the number of known exoplanets as they are confirmed one by one.

Of course, among the star systems where these exoplanets are located, there are also many star systems of great interest to scientists, so if the James Webb Space Telescope can be successfully launched this year, scientists have already found the first objects to observe, 51 light-years away from Earth and 133 light-years away from the star system 51 Eridani and HR 8799, are one of them.

James Webb Space Telescope target locked in

Although it has been called the most powerful planet hunter in the history of mankind, when the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in the first phase, scientists still needed to break in with it as a way to adjust and ensure that the James Webb Space Telescope can function at its best.

So, scientists have found two targets for it, the two star systems 51 Eridani and HR 8799, which are not too far from Earth in terms of distance, which allows them to be directly observed.

In addition, there are many giant planets in these two star systems, and the distance between these giant planets and the stars is also very far, for example, the giant planet "Dani" orbiting the star HR 8799, which is about twice the mass of Jupiter, and it can be said that it is even larger than some red dwarfs.

Meanwhile, in 51 Eridani and HR 8799 star systems, researchers believe that there may be planets with about 10 times the mass of Jupiter and that the largest planets known to man today are from these two star systems.

Its future study may help humans better understand the evolution of exoplanets and, at the same time, find out what is special about our solar system by analyzing them.

Of course, in addition to these star systems, when the James Webb Space Telescope lifts off, the closest star system to Earth - Proxima, there are about the mystery of life in the Proxima system, is also expected to be revealed through the James Webb Space Telescope.

Because the James Webb Space Telescope is possible to see the surface of Proxima b, it also means that in the future, with the help the James Webb Space Telescope, it will be easier for human beings to search for extraterrestrial life, or even alien civilizations, and if we are lucky, we may even have good news soon.

Humans are now making bold strides toward the universe, and I believe that in the future humans will also uncover more of the mysteries of the universe, so we'll see what happens together!