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Transcript/ScriptThe Week in Space (TV)
HEADLINE: James Webb Space Telescope's Amazing Images Explained
TEASER: Imagery gives clues to the origins of our universe
PUBLISHED AT: 7/14/2022 at 2:25 P.M.
BYLINE: Arash Arabasadi
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER: NASA, ESA, CSA, AND STSCI/ ZOOM/ AP/ NASA
SCRIPT EDITORS: mb, sv
VIDEO SOURCE (S): NASA, ESA, CSA, AND STSCI/ ZOOM/ AP/ NASA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 2:57
NOTE:
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: ))
[[INTRO: The international partnership behind the James Webb Space Telescope takes a victory lap after a week of releasing stunning images of our universe. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.]]
((mandatory cg NASA, ESA, CSA, AND STSCI))
((NARRATOR))
We begin this week with jaw-dropping imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope. What looks like a jeweler’s dream is, to date, the deepest and sharpest image of the universe. Webb uses infrared imaging to layer colors by using filters to create dazzling images our naked eyes can’t see. What took its predecessor, the Hubble Telescope, two days to capture per color ((filter)), Webb can do in two hours.
[RADIO TRACK: Marcia Rieke ((REE-KEY)) is principal investigator for the Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCAM ((NEAR-CAM)), on the Webb Telescope. She spoke with VOA on Zoom ((for Government))]
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((Marcia Rieke, NIRCAM Principal Investigator, James Webb Space Telescope))
“We saw deeper than Hubble has gone in its entire lifetime on this kind of a project. And so, we’re getting closer and closer to seeing the first things that formed after the Big Bang. Now, in a few months, we’re going to go 10-times deeper, and then we might get very close, so stay tuned for future things.”
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
Webb blasted off from South America on Christmas Day, 2021 ((12/25/2021)). It sent back test images en route to its final destination in space, but nothing compared to what we saw this week.
[RADIO TRACK: Ray Jayawardhana is a professor of astronomy at Cornell University. He spoke with VOA on Zoom ((for Government)).]
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((Ray Jayawardhana, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University))
“That entire image is about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. So, what we’re looking at is a tiny, tiny, tiny patch of the sky. ((In)) that tiny patch in that image there are thousands of galaxies, and each of those galaxies is home to tens or even hundreds of billions of stars.”
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
And then there was this image of the Carina ((KUH-RHINE-UH)) Nebula.
[RADIO TRACK: Again, NIRCAM Principal Investigator, Marcia Rieke, speaking to VOA on Zoom.]
((BITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY CARINA NEBULA IMAGE))
((mandatory cg NASA))
((mandatory ZOOM logo))
((Marcia Rieke, NIRCAM Principal Investigator, James Webb Space Telescope))
“You’re seeing a region where some new stars have formed, and just off the top of that image where it kind of looks like blue sky, there are some very hot stars whose light is eating into the cloud you see as kind of the orange-ish stuff below… Webb is so good at detecting distant galaxies that I’m saying that, basically, distant galaxies are photobombing every picture Webb takes. It’s pretty funny.”
((STILL, SPECTRUM OF PLANET WITH WATER))
((mandatory cg NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI))
((NARRATOR))
Webb also captured this spectrum of a planet outside of our solar system and detected the presence of water, despite the planet being far too hot to sustain human life. The discovery and what lies ahead awes even experts working on Webb.
[RADIO TRACK: Once again, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University Ray Jayawardhana, speaking to VOA on Zoom.]
((BITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY SPECTRUM))
((mandatory cg NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI))
((mandatory ZOOM logo))
((Ray Jayawardhana, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University))
“Here we are on this small rocky world orbiting a medium-sized star in the outskirts of one galaxy, and we’ve launched a telescope – an observatory – that is capable of looking so far into the universe and so far back in time to see some of the youngest galaxies coming into existence and spending their youth. So really, it’s both humbling but also really quite exciting ((and)) thrilling, and really makes us proud to be able to come together – tens of thousands of people have worked on it for decades to get to this point – and I’d say it’s been worth the wait.”
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
The experts we interviewed give one bottom line prediction: We’ve barely scratched the surface of what Webb can teach us about our universe and our history with much more to come.
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington D.C.
Embargo DateJuly 14, 2022 15:43 EDT
BylineArash Arabasadi, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
