WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.190 --> 00:00:04.210
Reporter: Hubble's newest and final Frontier Field image

2
00:00:04.210 --> 00:00:07.220
shows us just how vast and crowded our universe is

3
00:00:07.220 --> 00:00:10.410
when it looked at just a tiny portion of the sky.

4
00:00:10.410 --> 00:00:13.610
So what is a galaxy and what kind of super power did Hubble use to

5
00:00:13.610 --> 00:00:15.620
capture this new image?

6
00:00:15.620 --> 00:00:18.810
We are joined by Jim Jeletic at NASA's

7
00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:21.830
Goddard Space Flight Center who's going to show us this new view.

8
00:00:21.830 --> 00:00:22.860
Thanks for joining us.

9
00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:23.880
Jim: Thanks for having me.

10
00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:26.080
Reporter: So start by telling us, what is a galaxy

11
00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:29.150
and can you show us what Hubble has seen?

12
00:00:29.150 --> 00:00:32.160
Jim: Sure, well galaxies are these flat plates

13
00:00:32.160 --> 00:00:35.170
that have lots of stars, like billions, sometimes trillions

14
00:00:35.170 --> 00:00:38.290
of stars, gas, and dust and they're all kind of circling

15
00:00:38.290 --> 00:00:39.290
around a central point.

16
00:00:39.290 --> 00:00:41.310
And this 27th anniversary image shows you

17
00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:43.330
two spiral galaxies, one edge on

18
00:00:43.330 --> 00:00:45.380
on the left and one on the right.

19
00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.400
The one on the right, which is the most face on would

20
00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:49.590
take you 450,000 years to get from

21
00:00:49.590 --> 00:00:49.610
one side to the other.

22
00:00:49.610 --> 00:00:51.730
one side to the other, if you were traveling

23
00:00:51.730 --> 00:00:52.840
at the speed of light.

24
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:55.870
The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.

25
00:00:55.870 --> 00:00:58.910
So that's why this image of just a small portion of

26
00:00:58.910 --> 00:01:00.920
the sky is so incredible.

27
00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:02.930
Look at all the galaxies there and

28
00:01:02.930 --> 00:01:04.940
think about how big these things are.

29
00:01:04.940 --> 00:01:06.960
You see all kinds, you see the spiral galaxies

30
00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:09.140
like we saw before, you see those elliptical galaxies

31
00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:11.260
which are those yellowish ones

32
00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:13.280
that have older

33
00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.290
stars in it.

34
00:01:15.290 --> 00:01:17.500
And you even see galaxies collitions.

35
00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:19.580
So it's incredible you can get so many galaxies in one

36
00:01:19.580 --> 00:01:21.600
part of the sky and infact no matter

37
00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:23.620
which direction you look in the sky

38
00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:25.810
your going to see the same thing

39
00:01:25.810 --> 00:01:27.880
which means there's probably about 2 trillion galaxies

40
00:01:27.880 --> 00:01:30.060
in the universe or about as many

41
00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:32.070
galaxies in the universe as there are fish in the sea.

42
00:01:32.070 --> 00:01:35.080
So there are a lot of galaxies that need guarding.

43
00:01:35.080 --> 00:01:38.090
Reporter: What superpower did Hubble use

44
00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:41.290
to see these faint and distance galaxies

45
00:01:41.290 --> 00:01:42.500
in the new image?

46
00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:44.720
Jim: Well mother nature provides a

47
00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:48.950
common magnifying glass capability

48
00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:51.140
and it uses something called gravitational lensing.

49
00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.150
Where if you put an object

50
00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:55.180
of heavy mass and sprinkle in some dark matter

51
00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:57.190
it will bend and warp space

52
00:01:57.190 --> 00:01:59.210
in such that the light will be magnified

53
00:01:59.210 --> 00:02:01.390
and brightened and warped around

54
00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:03.580
that big object so you can see it.

55
00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:05.600
So in this case here that

56
00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:07.610
dragon type thing you see in the center of the screen

57
00:02:07.610 --> 00:02:09.630
that's actually 5 images

58
00:02:09.630 --> 00:02:11.640
of the same galaxy mirrored

59
00:02:11.640 --> 00:02:13.670
right next to each other.

60
00:02:13.670 --> 00:02:15.690
And then in this other case we're going to see

61
00:02:15.690 --> 00:02:17.710
these really really small

62
00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:19.730
faint red galaxies

63
00:02:19.730 --> 00:02:21.750
that who's light it took

64
00:02:21.750 --> 00:02:27.940
600 million years that it was born.

65
00:02:27.940 --> 00:02:30.000
So we wouldn't be able to see

66
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.010
this without this gravitational lens capability.

67
00:02:33.010 --> 00:02:36.010
So it really provides us new capability where by Hubble

68
00:02:36.010 --> 00:02:39.030
can look into the magnifying glass of nature

69
00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:42.040
and see even further into space then we would have been see otherwise.

70
00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:45.220
Reporter: Now you mention dark matter

71
00:02:45.220 --> 00:02:48.400
that sounds like something a villain might use.

72
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.410
How do missions like Hubble help us learn about

73
00:02:50.410 --> 00:02:52.420
one of natures biggest secrets?

74
00:02:52.420 --> 00:02:54.430
Jim: Well dark matter is this really exoctic stuff

75
00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:56.440
and we don't know what it is

76
00:02:56.440 --> 00:02:58.450
we can't see it because it doesn't give out

77
00:02:58.450 --> 00:03:00.480
any light but it takes over 80%

78
00:03:00.480 --> 00:03:02.490
of all the matter in the universe

79
00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:04.510
What we can do is we can see effects that it has

80
00:03:04.510 --> 00:03:06.570
do to its gravity and we can map those

81
00:03:06.570 --> 00:03:08.590
effects and that's what you're seeing here with the blue

82
00:03:08.590 --> 00:03:10.780
we're mapping where we believe the dark matter is

83
00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:12.800
by how it distorts

84
00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:14.810
the light from background galaxies

85
00:03:14.810 --> 00:03:16.820
but we also then can take a look at

86
00:03:16.820 --> 00:03:18.840
galaxies themselves because

87
00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:20.860
dark matter is the glue that holds

88
00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:22.870
galaxies together

89
00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:24.880
and makes them spin the way they do

90
00:03:24.880 --> 00:03:26.990
so if we study galaxies as well

91
00:03:26.990 --> 00:03:29.010
hopefully we can learn a little bit more about

92
00:03:29.010 --> 00:03:31.020
this dark matter and maybe someday even figure out

93
00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:33.110
how we can detect it directly as opposed

94
00:03:33.110 --> 00:03:36.120
to just by seeing it by its gravitational pull on other things.

95
00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:39.150
Reporter: Now Hubble just celebrated

96
00:03:39.150 --> 00:03:42.160
its 27th birthday, what's next for the

97
00:03:42.160 --> 00:03:45.180
famous space telescope?

98
00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:48.240
Jim: Well Hubble is at the peak of its scientific capability

99
00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:50.430
and still has redundancy in all its critical systems

100
00:03:50.430 --> 00:03:52.440
so we're really hopeful we can get it

101
00:03:52.440 --> 00:03:54.620
to continue to make ground breaking observations

102
00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:56.640
well into the next decade and that's

103
00:03:56.640 --> 00:03:58.820
due to all of the servicing missions

104
00:03:58.820 --> 00:04:01.040
and where the astronauts went up and they

105
00:04:01.040 --> 00:04:03.060
worked on Hubble upgrading it and repair it.

106
00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.230
But what we are really excited about is

107
00:04:05.230 --> 00:04:07.250
the James Webb Space Telescope

108
00:04:07.250 --> 00:04:09.260
and James Webb is going to see

109
00:04:09.260 --> 00:04:11.440
the infered light, much further into the infered

110
00:04:11.440 --> 00:04:13.460
part of the spectrum so

111
00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:15.490
if you think looking at a visible light like the Sombrero galaxy

112
00:04:15.490 --> 00:04:17.490
here the picture that Hubble took

113
00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:19.500
it will be able to take a look at

114
00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:21.520
infered light so we can see

115
00:04:21.520 --> 00:04:23.710
these different objects in different

116
00:04:23.710 --> 00:04:25.720
wavelengths and it tells us a lot more information

117
00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:27.750
about it. So we're really excited

118
00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:30.750
James Webb and it's due to launch at the end of 2018.

119
00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:33.770
Reporter: Where can we see more of Hubble's

120
00:04:33.770 --> 00:04:36.780
beautiful images like the new one you just released?

121
00:04:36.780 --> 00:04:39.810
Jim: Well if you want images, if you want videos

122
00:04:39.810 --> 00:04:41.830
if you want to see what are the biggest discoveries

123
00:04:41.830 --> 00:04:43.840
Hubble's ever made, if you want to learn about

124
00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:45.850
the telescope, you go to nasa.gov/hubble

125
00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:47.860
or you can follow us on Twitter

126
00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:49.860
@nasahubble

127
00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:50.203