It is pretty fitting that these are called cosmic flames.
These packets nothing but a bunch of different
Lithium makes red, barium makes green and so on.
And then they in these really pretty colors.
Burning chemicals is a legitimate way to find out what something is. Chemists
call it the “burn test”. All elements actually give off a signature when
they are put into an excited state.
Here we are witnessing what happens in a fire. The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to read
the same signatures from unknown stars and planets.
How Does
Webb Seek Elements?
I’ve been taking you through different elements that are built into the Webb Telescope
Gold reflects infrared light well
and will not corrode, beryllium is lightweight,
silicon is a tried-and-true semi-conductor.
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Isn’t it just poetic, that Webb is designed to detect elements?
Webb uses
a device called a spectrograph, it works by splitting light, with a prism.
We can tell what element we see based on the pattern from the
light through the prim. Every element releases light at a
different wavelength. When the light is split by a prism, black bands appear
due to the transition between energy states – these are called
absorption lines. The lines always appear in the same part of the rainbow
which is why we call them “atomic fingerprints”.
I’ve made my
own simple spectrograph to give you an idea of what Webb sees.
And the object that makes it work is this relic
of technology – It’s a CD!
CDs and DVDs
use the same principal as another ancient devise – the record.
They use tiny tracks of bumps to convey information.
Records are 3-D representations of the sound and a CD uses
raised binary points.
The point is that these discs have a very fine groove pattern that physically
splits light – that’s why they have a rainbow or iridescent color.
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Webb’s spectrograph also uses really fine grooves to split light.
The Near Infrared Spectrometer, called NIRSpec is designed to take
spectra for up to 100 objects at once!
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You don’t need to go all the way to space to see the spectra for different objects
my little homemade spectrometer can tell me
what the primary element different light sources use.
Neon lights get their name, because the light
uses neon gas to get its color.
Actually, the neon only refers to the one color,
these types of lights use other gases make more colors.
Let me show you the fully spectrum of colors
that we can see based on a combination of these
different elements.
Webb’s spectra really give more information than just elemental makeup.
They can also tell astronomers about the temperature, mass
speed and density of the objects as well.
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All elements have a cosmic start. Smaller elements
are forged in the heat and pressure of a star.
Anything larger than iron, needs the powerful force of a supernova,
or colliding neutron stars.
These elements may stay as dust clouds or eventually coalesce
into asteroids or new planets characterized by their original elemental makeup.
The spectra Webb will see not only tells us what elements we’re
looking at but the warmth and density of the bodies as well.
So we might detect some distant bio signatures!
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Webb’s build may use a scarce element like beryllium for its mirrors,
but will that cosmically occasional
help us find something far rarer?
Like gaseous carbon, oxygen or nitrogen?
Can we determine where to find
the building blocks of life on other worlds?
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