2010 Activity: What Are Your Predictions for the Future of Cosmology?

While it is true that no one could have predicted the magnificent images brought to us by the Hubble Space Telescope, or the amazing finding that the universe is expanding at an ever-faster rate, it is nonetheless important to imagine what new discoveries might be out there.  After all, it was a vivid imagination that propelled George Ellery Hale to construct the large telescopes at Mt. Wilson and Palomar, which led to our current understanding of the universe.  And it is a vision of uncovering the “dark ages” of the universe that is driving Wendy Freedman to build one of the giant telescopes of tomorrow.

 

Imagine it is 2020, and the Giant Magellan Telescope and the James Webb Telescope have both been in full-scale operation for at least two years.  In words or sketches envision what you think these instruments will find about the earliest formation of stars and galaxies.  

 

To see what ideas astronomers have come up with, you can also check out some of their models in the form of computer animations such as the following site:

 

http://www.gmto.org/sciencecase