The James Webb Telescope “opens up to parts of our cosmic reality,” according to physicist Christoph Galvard

Going back in time and pushing the boundaries of knowledge: That’s the promise of James Webb, the most powerful telescope ever built. French physicist and writer Christoph Galvardstudent and collaborator of the great astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, Testify in the documentary James Webb, A Journey to the Origins of the Universeaired on Thursday the 13th October, at 21 watch in France 5. The world gives us their impressions of this wonderful tool.

France information : What amazes you the most about James Webb ?

Christoph Galvard : Honestly, almost all of the collective imagination we have about space is connected to the images that the Hubble telescope has given us. It has changed our view of the universe. There, with James Webb, we’re on the next generation. Thanks to her, we have new images of amazing beauty, which open up to us sections of our cosmic reality that have hitherto not been discovered because they were invisible and undetectable. This is so crazy.

For you who are interested in popularizing science, James Webb is an essential tool in your research ?

Ah yes, because the images that they allow us to get from the universe are wonderful and allow me, during conferences, to explain many things. Hence from a personal point of view it is very interesting to expose yourself in such remote places in so much detail. We even see dust from black holes in very distant galaxies. It’s crazy, and not only for the general public, but also for scientists. Because before Hubble, no scientist had seen such kind of images. It is truly a gift humanity is giving to itself today by owning these wonderful pictures.

Are scientists working on these images? ?

No, the data scientists are working on is not the images themselves. They can be used, but the raw data has a more encrypted form. These are big spreadsheets. original shots Restored by James Webb Unread, a lot of work is needed to make the photos look like those beautiful shots we can admire today. In addition, originally, colors, called electromagnetic waves, whether they are visible to our eyes or not, arrive from space one by one, and are detected independently of each other. Whereas, when we look at an image, we have all the colors superimposed at once.

Will scientists be able to design a more powerful telescope ?

naturally. Here we are again on a telescope that uses light that our eyes can’t see, called infrared light. But there are telescopes that will be able to see beyond the infrared and will be able to see particles and other signals that are able to cross space and even earlier times. We’re not there yet, but scientists are already working on the next stage, even if they’re still analyzing what James Webb can bring, because we’re just beginning to exploit it.

Do you think James Webb will be able to discover extraterrestrial life ?

James Webb has such sensitivity that will allow us to analyze the atmospheres of distant planets, as never before. This means we’re starting to have tools that will help us detect molecular signals from things on other planets. Moreover, one of the first five images of James Webb that we discovered this summer was specifically related to the atmosphere. It proves that we can do this, so to answer your question, yes, it is totally possible.