Where did the universe come from and how did it expand?



Is there only one planet with life in this vast universe, the Earth we live in?



And you must have dreamed of discovering aliens at least once, and this dream may soon become a reality.



The universe, which used to be an unknown realm, has one more way to solve its riddles.



The picture you see now is a cluster of stars taken by the Hubble Telescope a while ago, a galaxy, but something unusual was discovered recently.



See the red dots and lines here?



I wonder if it was just the wrong picture, but the analysis showed that it was light from a certain star 12.9 billion years ago.



It is the oldest and most distant starlight so far, but scientists announced the results of this study at the end of last month and gave it the name Erendel, meaning dawn star.



Since the universe is 13.8 billion years old and this starlight came from 12.9 billion years ago and was only captured now, it is probably at the most 900 million years old, a baby star for a star.



By discovering the baby stars that formed in the relatively early universe, we are one step closer to unraveling the history of the universe.



Enlarging an image


However, the current Hubble telescope also has limitations.



This is the Keel Nebula from the Hubble Telescope. It's nice, but it's obscured by a dusty nebula that makes it hard to see what's inside and what's behind it.



This is because we see through the same visible light as our eyes.



So is there any solution?

The answer lies in this infrared camera.



My hand behind the black plastic, you can't just see it, but it's a little different when you look at it with an infrared camera.



Let's take a look, the shape of the hand is clearly visible.



The Keel Nebula, which you saw earlier with visible light, you can see the starlight behind you, which you couldn't see with infrared light, and the Andromeda Galaxy is also photographed with infrared light instead of visible light, so its shape is a little clearer and you can see the unique spiral arm structure.



This is possible because infrared radiation can penetrate some materials, and all objects either emit or absorb infrared radiation.



Earlier this month, an international team of researchers succeeded in locating a galaxy 13.5 billion years ago using a ground-based infrared telescope.



As infrared observation drew attention, the United States launched the next-generation infrared space telescope at a whopping 12 trillion won.



This is the James Webb you are looking at right now.



Because it has the best infrared detection capability, it is expected to capture even earlier images that are closer to the moment of the universe's birth.



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Going back to aliens and using James Webb, it doesn't seem impossible.



It uses infrared to analyze the planet's air, and certain elements have the property of absorbing infrared radiation.



In fact, there are several types of infrared rays from long to short wavelengths, and each element absorbs different infrared rays.



After the starlight passes through the planet's atmosphere, you can determine which elements are on the planet by looking at which infrared rays are absorbed and lost.



In other words, it can distinguish the presence of substances with signs of life activity, such as oxygen, hydrogen, or water vapor.



If the oxygen ratio is as high as on Earth, the chances of extraterrestrial life will increase.



James Webb also has a function to detect artificial light, so if there is a developed civilization on a certain planet, it can capture that light.



James Webb recently finished preparing for observation and sent his first test photos, and we are excited to see what new world he will show us in the future.



(Planning: Ho-Gun Lee, Composition: Hee-Sook Shin, Video coverage: Gyun-Jong Kim, Gyeong-Bae Jeon, Yong-Woo Kim, video editing: Ji-in Park, CG: Kyung-Lim Kang, Screen source: NASA ESA)