The James Webb Space Telescope should be ready to replace Hubble in 2014 (Image: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham/Emmett Given)
Read more: Instant Expert: The unseen universe
New space observatories, huge earthbound telescopes and a continent-sized radio array will probe the origins of stars, elements and the universe itself
The coming years will see more of the invisible universe revealed by existing instruments and new probes spanning all wavelengths.
The workhorse of current space astronomy, the Hubble space telescope, will cease to operate after 2014, at which time its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, should be ready for launch. The JWST will operate mainly in the infrared, covering wavelengths from 500 nanometres to 24 micrometres. Its main aim will be to obtain images of Earth-sized planets and to detect the very first galaxies at the edge of the observable universe. Towards 2020, SPICA, a joint Japanese-European infrared space telescope, should also be well advanced, together with a slew of giant ground-based optical and near-infrared telescopes – the , the and the .
The will span wavelengths from 0.4 to 3 millimetres and should come on stream in Chile in 2012. It will probe star-forming regions in our galaxy and others with exacting angular resolution and sensitivity.
Even ALMA will be surpassed in scale, though, by an international radio telescope known as the . To be sited in South Africa or Australia, it will connect a dense central square kilometre of radio antennas with receiving stations up to 3000 kilometres away. Ambitions for SKA are mind-blowing: it will study cosmic evolution…
