

Jens Melinder is one of the Swedish researchers in the consortium that has contributed to MIRI, Mid-Infrared Instrument, the instrument that will capture faint infrared light from the most distant and oldest celestial bodies in the universe. Galaxies and stars at the beginning of the universe The telescope can also be used to study the atmospheres of the planets. Infrared light is also highly significant in relation to the search for planets around other stars, so-called exoplanets, which have similar properties to Earth and where life may be found. This makes it possible to study what the universe looked like shortly after the Big Bang, and to follow the evolution of galaxies. The infrared light that reaches us has not only travelled a greater distance, it has also taken longer and can be several billion years old. The ability to observe farther into space than ever before also means that it is possible to look further back in time. Therefore, the James Webb Telescope can see farther than the 30-year-old Hubble Telescope, whose observations are mainly made in visible and ultraviolet light. As the universe expands, light becomes redder, wavelengths become longer, the farther away from us the light originates. light with a longer wavelength than the human eye can perceive. The James Webb telescope makes observations mainly in infrared light, i.e. Illustration: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez.
