After more than three decades of development, construction, integration, and testing, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope was launched from French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021. Following six months of complex deployment and commissioning in orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point, the observatory has been in full scientific operation since July 2022. In this talk, Prof Mark McCaughrean explains the scientific rationale for this astonishing machine, the technological challenges that had to be overcome in realising it, some of the highlights from the first year of science, and possible breakthroughs that it now promises.
About the presenter:
Prof Mark McCaughrean is the Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency. He is also responsible for communicating results from ESA’s astronomy, heliophysics, planetary, and exploration missions to the scientific community and wider public. After studying at the University of Edinburgh, he worked in universities and research organisations in the US, Germany, and UK before joining ESA in 2009. His scientific research focuses on the formation of stars and their planetary systems, and he is an Interdisciplinary Scientist on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Science Working Group. He is also the co-founder of Space Rocks, which celebrates space exploration and the art, music, and culture it inspires through public events and more.
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