Physics & Astronomy Seminar: The James Webb Space Telescope

Dr. Tracy Beck, AURA Scientist, Space Telescope Science Institute will speak.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA’s next great flagship observatory, scheduled for launch in 2021. Following on the scientific legacy of previous optical and infrared space observatories, such as the Hubble, Spitzer and Herschel, JWST offers orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity and spatial resolution from 0.6 to 28 micron.  The suite of four powerful science instruments will enable transformative research in a broad range of science areas, including the solar system, exoplanets, star and planet-formation, galactic science, galaxy formation and evolution, and cosmology.  In this talk, I will summarize the key characteristics of JWST, and will highlight the research goals and plans for Early Release Science.

The  JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The Science and Operations Center for JWST is the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.