UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane. Credit: Stan Lim/UCR
The James Webb Space Telescope, the most complex and expensive space laboratory ever created, is less than two weeks away from its ultimate destination a million miles from Earth. Once it arrives, it will send information about parts of space and time never seen before. It will also send previously unattainable information about parts of our own solar system.
UC Riverside astrophysicist Stephen Kane’s group will be using the telescope to look for planets like Venus in other parts of the galaxy. In addition to work with the Webb mission, Kane is also joining NASA on missions to Venus expected to launch after 2028. Here, he breaks down some unique aspects of the Webb, explains how the separate Venus projects intersect, and how both might benefit Earth.
Q: The Webb telescope cost $10 billion. What contributed to the cost, and what makes it different from other telescopes?
A: Webb is often described as a successor to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which is remarkably still going strong. It was launched in the early 90s and is well past its expiration date—it was never intended to last this long. Its primary mirror is just under 8 feet in diameter. The Webb’s mirror is more than 21 feet across. It’s way bigger. But there are a few other important differences.
Hubble orbits the Earth, and there’s an advantage to that. We can and have accessed it to fix it when something goes wrong. But the disadvantage is that Earth gets in the way of its observations and can limit some of the science it can do. In contrast, Webb is headed to the Lagrange point, a location in space where Earth and the sun’s gravity cancel out, so it can remain in a stable orbit. That location is about a million miles from Earth. From there, as it orbits the sun, it can point anywhere in space without having Earth get in the way.
In addition, the Hubble primarily operates at optical wavelengths, ones we can see with the human eye. Webb is primarily designed to “see” infrared light with extreme sensitivity. This will help us detect a number of things, including stars and planets that are just forming and aren’t yet otherwise visible.
Q: How will you be using Webb’s technology to help you understand more about Venus? Also, why are you studying Venus?
A: Venus could be described as a runaway greenhouse hellscape. It has surface temperatures of up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, no water, and floats in a nest of sulfuric acid clouds. In my work, I’m trying to answer two questions: 1) how did Venus get to be the way it is? and 2) how commonly does this hellish state occur elsewhere?
Our separate mission to Venus is about answering the former question. That’s about studying Venus itself. Our work with the Webb is about the latter—are there other Venuses? We’ll be using Webb to measure the atmospheres of exoplanets—planets around stars other than our sun—and trying to determine whether they’re more like Earth or Venus. Specifically, Webb will help us look for carbon dioxide and other gases that could indicate runaway greenhouse states.
We are going to do these measurements on planets where we already know how long it takes them to orbit their stars, how close they are to their stars, their size and their mass. But we don’t know much about their atmospheres, or whether they’re in Venus-like states. Webb can tell us this. And it will help us see whether the fate of Venus is a common fate or not.
Q: Greenhouse gases are causing devastating changes to the climate here on Earth. Can Venus science help solve this planet’s problems?
A: Whatever happened to Venus was through non-human processes, but the effect is very similar. Venus is a preview into Earth’s future. Understanding how runaway greenhouse gases work can tell us how to prevent that future.
We know that climate change is real, that temperatures are rising. But there’s a lot of variability in predictions 50 or 100 years out because there are limits to how much we know about how planetary processes influence each other.
Volcanic outgassing, ocean currents, air currents—there are so many pieces in a complex puzzle, and we’re trying to determine our fate based only on data from Earth. We need another source of data where things have already gone wrong, and that’s Venus.
It’s possible Venus could always have been in its current state, but we don’t think so. We believe it could have had water in the past because it rotates slowly, which could allow clouds to form and cool the surface enough to get water. That’s one reason we’re going back, to see the geology on the surface and get clues about its origins.
I often explain the relationship between Venus and Earth this way: it’s like we live in a nice town. There’s a nearby town that at some point burned to the ground, and we don’t know why. If it looks like that town was exactly the same as ours, we can’t ignore that. There is a really important message in there about how we can better take care of where we live.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
