Space Telescope to Map Galaxy

REMEMBRANCE OF A HOMELAND LOST 2 YEARS OF WAR. HELLO, EVERYONE. I'M MIKE WALTER, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. NATIONALS MAKING THE FINAL PREPARATIONS TO LAUNCH ITS MOST ADVANCED TELESCOPE YET THE NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE ON AUGUST 30TH. IT'LL BE CARRIED ABOARD A SPACEX ROCKET BEFORE FINDING A LOCATION ROUGHLY 1 MILLION MILES FROM EARTH. TO CAPTURE. NEVER BEFORE SEEN IMAGES OF OUR UNIVERSE AFTER 10 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT IN OVER 4 BILLION DOLLARS. THE OMENS SPACE TELESCOPE WILL MAP BILLIONS OF GALAXIES IN AN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER SOME OF THE BIGGEST MYSTERIES. OUR UNIVERSE HAS TO OFFER WGCUS TEDDY BYRNE HAS MORE. >> SO FOR MORE ON THE NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE, I AM JOINED BY DR DOMINIC BENFORD. HE IS THE PROGRAM SCIENTIST FOR THE PROJECT. DR BEDFORD, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TODAY. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME. I'M EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THE NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE WITH YOU. >> NOW THIS ONLY COMES 5 YEARS AFTER THE LAUNCH OF THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE, WHICH IS ALREADY GIVEN US SOME OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT IMAGES OF OUR UNIVERSE. SO HOW WILL THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE KIND OF EXPAND OUR VIEW OF THE WORLD AROUND US? >> THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE IS A FABULOUS STATE OF THE ARTS CIVILIZATION. SCALE EXPERIMENTS TO UNDERSTAND THE UNIVERSE AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN HE WAS YOUNG ALL THE WAY TO THE PRESENT UNIVERSE AND WHAT STARS ARE DOING TODAY. AND IT'S REALLY A FABULOUS INSTRUMENT FOR STUDYING INDIVIDUAL OBJECTS LIKE GALAXIES, 4 STARS. BUT WE WANTED TO BUILD A TELESCOPE THAT WAS ABLE TO DO THINGS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY. INSTEAD OF STUDYING A GALAXY ARE A FEW GALAXIES. WE STUDY THOUSANDS OR MILLIONS OF GALAXIES STEAD OF ONE STAR OR A FEW STARS. WE STUDY THOUSANDS OR MILLIONS STARS. THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE IS DESIGNED WITH A FIELD OF VIEW ABOUT 100 TIMES LARGER THAN THAT OF THE JAMES WEBB. IT HAS A SIMILAR AND GET A RESOLUTION OR SHARPNESS OF IMAGE, BUT IT CAN SEE SO MANY MORE OBJECTS THAT WHEN YOU WANT TO START DOING. MAJOR SURVEYS OF THE UNIVERSE, UNDERSTANDING EVERYTHING THAT'S OUT THERE, YOU NEED A TOOL THAT'S MORE LIKE ROMAN. YOU STILL NEED WEB. BUT YOU ALSO NEED ROMAN. >> SO IS THERE A PARTICULAR OBJECTIVE THEN FOR THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE? IS IT LOOKING FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR OR IS THIS KIND OF JUST A SCOUTING MISSION TO SEE WHAT IS BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING AT THIS POINT? >> THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS IN ASTRONOMY THAT COW BE ANSWERED IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME WITH OTHERWISE FABULOUS TELESCOPES LIKE HUBBLE WEB. AND SO WE HAVE BUILT THE NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER SOME VERY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ONE OF THEM IS ABOUT THE GROWTH OF THE UNIVERSE. HOW IT EXPANDED OVER THE LAST 13.8 BILLION YEARS UNDER THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF DARK MATTER, WHICH IS MUCH LIKE NORMAL MATTER, LIKE STARS AND GALAXIES, EXCEPT THAT IT DOES NOT A BIT LIGHT OR SO OF LIGHT. SO WE CAN'T SEE IT AND DARK ENERGY, WHICH IS A MYSTERIOUS FORCE THAT IS CAUSING THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE TO ACCELERATE FASTER AND FASTER. >> NOW YOU TOUCHED ON THE DARK MATTER AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT'S NO. >> AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING AND MAKES UP A VAST MAJORITY OF OUR UNIVERSE. >> BUT VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT IT. SO WHAT ARE YOU HOPING THAT CAN BE LEARNED ABOUT THIS UNSEEN FORCE? THAT IS A GREAT POINT TO DO THAT. MOST OF THE MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE BACK ABOUT 80% OF THE MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE IS DARK MATTER. SO WE CANNOT SEE IT BY LOOKING AT IT WITH LIGHT. BUT WE CAN SEE HOW THE MATTER AFFECTS THE OTHER OBJECTS THAT WE CAN SEE SUCH AS STARS AND GALAXIES. ONE OF OUR KEY TOOLS IS TO USE THE SHAPES OF GALAXIES. NOW, YOU MIGHT SAY THAT ALL GALAXIES LOOK KIND OF OVAL AND THAT IS TRUE. BUT THE WAY THEY LOOK OVAL AND HOW THEY LOOK OVAL RELATIVE TO OTHER GALAXIES. TELLS YOU WHERE DARK MATTER IS, HOW MUCH DARK MATTER THERE IS. HOW COMPANY THAT DARK MATTER IS. AND THAT TELLS YOU HOW THE UNIVERSE. FROM THE ABOVE. OVER MANY BILLINGS YEARS. AND THEN MANY PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND >> JUST SAY MAYBE THIS CAN ANSWER THE QUESTION IF WE'RE ALONE IN OUR UNIVERSE. >> BUT MAYBE MORE. IT CAN BE IMPORTANT TO FIND THAT IF THERE ARE HABITABLE PLANETS OUTSIDE OF OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM. >> IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE HOPING THAT THIS, YOU KNOW, THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE CAN HELP LOCATE? THAT? THE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE IS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO HELP UNDERSTAND PLANETS AROUND OTHER STARS. AND WE USE OF A NEW TECHNIQUE THAT HASN'T BEEN USED BEFORE CALLED MICROLENSING. WHERE WE LOOK FOR STARS THAT PASS IN FRONT OF OTHER STARS. SO IF YOU CAN IMAGINE LOOKING ACROSS GREAT DISTANCES OF SPACE AND YOU HAVE A FOREGROUND STAR AND A BACKGROUND STAR WHEN THEY HAPPEN TO LINE UP. JUST PERFECTLY. THE GRAVITY OF THIS, THAT THE CLOSER STAR WILL AMPLIFY THE LIGHT OF THE BACKGROUND START. AND IF THERE ARE PLANETS AROUND THAT FOREGROUND, STAR THAT ALSO WILL AMPLIFY THE LIGHT. THE BACKGROUND STAR. AND SO YOU CAN COUNT ALL THE PLANETS AROUND THAT STAR. AND YOU CAN SEE HOW HOW MASSIVE THEY ARE, HOW HAPPY THEY ARE. AND WE EXPECT TO DISCOVER HOW COMMON AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET AT THE RIGHT ZONE AS HABITABLE ZONE, THE RIGHT DISTANCE FROM ITS STAR MIGHT BE. AND I WILL TELL US HOW COMMON IT MIGHT BE TO HAVE HABITABLE WORLD. AND THEN AS WE'RE GETTING THESE IMAGES OF THESE, YOU KNOW, GALAXIES BEYOND GALAXIES. >> HOW DOES THAT HELP US KIND OF FIND OUT THE ORIGINS OF OUR UNIVERSE AS WELL? I MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FOCUSED ON THE BIG BANG. COULD THIS LEAD TO KIND OF NEW CONCEPT TO NEW IDEAS OF HOW THE UNIVERSE ORIGINATED? >> SO THE BIG BANG MODEL OF COSMOLOGY STATES THAT 14.8 BILLION YEARS IN THE PAST, EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE WAS COMPRESSED INTO AN INCREDIBLY DENSE. INDEED. IT HAS BEEN ALL YEAR AND IT'S BEEN EXPANDING EVER SINCE THAT MODEL IS AT LEAST PARTIALLY CORRECT, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT THAT BIG BANK HAD OCCURRED. BUT WE KNOW THAT THE UNIVERSE AS IT IS EXPANDING IS EXPANDING FASTER AND FASTER. AND IT IS DOING THAT EVEN AGAINST THE GRAVITY OF ALL THE DARK MATTER INSIDE THE UNIVERSE IS PUSHING OUT BECAUSE DARK ENERGY'S PUSHING THAT OUT. UNDERSTANDING HOW DARK ENERGY WORKS AND HOW IT EVOLVES OVER COSMIC TIME IS CRUCIAL FOR US TO UNDERSTAND THIS COMPONENT OF THE UNIVERSE AND IN FACT, DARK ENERGY IS MORE IMPORTANT AND MORE INFLUENTIAL ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE RIGHT NOW. THEN THE COMBINATION OF ALL THE MATTER IN THE DARK MATTER COMBINE AT THE DARK ENERGY IS GOING TO DETERMINE THE ULTIMATE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE. AND WE'RE GOING TO UNDERSTAND THIS BY LOOKING AT THE EXPANSION OF OUR UNIVERSE OVER THE LAST SEVERAL BILLION YEARS. BUT YOU CAN ONLY DO WITH A TELESCOPE LIKE ROMAN. >> DR. DOMINIC BENFORD, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN THIS NEW PROGRAM, THIS NEW TELESCOPE AND HOW ITS GOING TO CHANGE JUST SPACE EXPLORATION MOVING FORWARD. THANK YOU TO YOU FOR HAVING ME. WE'RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT REAL