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Daniel Apai

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A light, cheap space telescope design would make it possible to put many individual units in space at once. Katie Yung, Daniel Apai /University of Arizona and AllThingsSpace /SketchFab, CC BY-ND (SketchFab)

A new, thin-lensed telescope design could far surpass James Webb

Daniel Apai
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star on July 12, 2022 in space. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb's unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)

To search for alien life, Webb telescope will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets

Chris Impey, Daniel Apai