Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock never imagined she'd become one of the United Kingdom's most famous scientists. Best known for co-hosting the BBC's astronomy TV program"The Sky at Night," the space scientist and broadcaster rose from unlikely circumstances to pursue her dreams.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock: I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in space, and I think that's because I was born in 1968. The moon landing was in 1969, so I was brought up in that hubbub of excitement where everything was about going to the moon and people exploring the moon — so that was the baseline.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Related: James Webb telescope watches ancient supernova replay 3 times — and confirms something is seriously wrong in our understanding of the universe Infrared light can penetrate clouds and dust and debris which visible light cannot. And with its very large telescope mirror, gives us high resolution. Resolution is the key, because with good resolution, it means that two objects that in a smaller telescope would look like a fuzzy blob appear as two distinct objects. So you get a better image quality of the universe.
James Webb is a space telescope, it has a heat shield, gray sheets that protect it from infrared radiation coming from the sun and Earth. It also has a mirror, the light gathering power of the telescope. On board, there are four instruments and NIRSpec is one of them. MAP: I was looking at the book earlier, and one would have to be the Pillars of Creation. It's when you hear of the scale of it, our entire solar system can fit inside those pillars. It's hard to conceive how big and glorious they are.
But people don't say why do we study history, or why do we do philosophy or art? One day we might get an answer to whether we're alone in the universe. That's a question that's fundamental in every culture across the world. And we're using the means we have to try to discover this. The other thing is that the oldest stone circle isn't even Stonehenge, and it actually sits on African soil. It's called Nabta Playa in Namibia and it's about 7,000 years old, so 2,000 years older than Stonehenge. If we go further back, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, there are a series of pits and each one corresponds to the phase of the moon — these are 10,000 years old. And yet they dug them because astronomy was important to them.
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