Year 7 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 13
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Learning Goals
Because… chain
Fill in the missing steps. This chain follows how the James Webb Space Telescope turned new technology into new knowledge of the Universe.
Overall conclusion:
Real-world context
In July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope released its first full-colour images. Sitting about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth and seeing in infrared light, it can view some of the most distant and earliest galaxies, watch new stars and planets forming inside dust clouds, and study the air around planets that orbit other stars. Meanwhile, in Australia, the Parkes telescope (Murriyang) and the new SKA-Low telescope in Western Australia study the Universe using radio waves instead of light we can see.
(a) Sort each new observation below to the kind of new knowledge it builds. Write galaxies, star formation, or exoplanets next to each one.
| What JWST observed | Knowledge it builds |
|---|---|
| Faint, very distant light from soon after the Universe began | |
| Glowing dust clouds with young stars taking shape inside | |
| Starlight shining through the air of a planet around another star | |
| The shapes of the earliest galaxies ever seen |
(b) Explain why seeing in infrared light lets JWST look inside dust clouds where stars form.
(c) Australia studies the Universe with radio telescopes, while JWST uses infrared light from space. Give two reasons why having different kinds of instruments helps scientists understand the Universe better.
1. The first image of a black hole (2019) and the detection of gravitational waves (2015) are also recent advances. Choose one and explain how a new instrument let scientists observe something they never could before.
2. Why is being able to make new observations more useful to scientists than simply believing an idea is true? Use JWST in your answer.
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?