One new assignment for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: Spot erupting volcanoes on rocky worlds orbiting distant stars.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy.
JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST’s instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
Now, according to theorists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, detecting volcanoes on exo-planets may well be feasible.
Exoplanet atmospheres
While astronomers are decades away from being able to image the surface of an alien world — or exo-planet — in a few cases they have already been able to detect exoplanet atmospheres for gas giants known as “hot Jupiters.
An eruption on those distant worlds sends out fumes and various gases, so volcanic activity on a rocky exoplanet might leave a telltale atmospheric signature.
“You would need something truly earthshaking, an eruption that dumped a lot of gases into the atmosphere,” said Smithsonian astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger. “Using the James Webb Space Telescope, we could spot an eruption 10 to 100 times the size of Pinatubo for the closest stars,” she added.
The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines spewed about 17 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere — a layer of air 6 to 30 miles above Earth’s surface. The largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, the 1815 Tambora event, was about 10 times more powerful.
Catch one in the act
Astronomers note that gigantic eruptions are infrequent, so they would have to monitor many Earth-sized planets for years to catch one in the act. However, if alien worlds are more volcanically active than Earth, success might be more likely, according to experts at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center.
Due to its proximity, a hypothetical Earth or super-Earth orbiting Alpha Centauri would offer a best-case scenario for a Sun-like star. A super-Earth orbiting a smaller host star close to our own Sun would show the biggest signal. But any Earth-like planet less than 30 light-years away could show faint signs of volcanism when studied with the James Webb Space Telescope.
JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is managing the development effort. The prime contractor is Northrop Grumman; the Space Telescope Science Institute will operate the space-based observatory after launch.
For more information on NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), go to:
By LD/CSE