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Last broadcast on Thu, 30 Apr 2009, 21:00 on BBC Radio 4.
Synopsis
First of two programmes in which Andrew Luck-Baker meets today's telescope builders and astronomers.
He meets the scientists behind the James Webb Space Telescope, the gigantic successor to the Hubble Telescope. From 2013, its mission will be to find the first stars born at the dawn of the universe. It will have by far the largest mirror on a space telescope, some 6.5 metres across. It needs to sit behind a giant sunshield, which covers the area of a tennis court, so that it can chill to the temperature of deep space.
One chief goal is be to see deeper into the cosmos than even Hubble has allowed. The further astronomers can see, the further back through the universe's history they are able to voyage. With JWST, NASA scientists hope to see the very first stars to light up after the Big Bang, almost 14 billion years ago. Before these primordial stars, the universe was just a void of cool, gaseous darkness. JWST should reveal how and when these stars transformed the infant universe into a place where planets and human life became possible.
Broadcast
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Thu 30 Apr 200921:00
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