JWST comes to life
WHEN: September 21, 2022
WHERE: The University Club of Western Australia, Hackett Drive, Crawley WA, Australia
Garth Illingworth led the early work on the Next Generation Space Telescope that is now known as the James Webb Space Telescope.
The James Webb Space Telescope is an astronomy mission that exceeds all others in capability. JWST cost more than any other astronomy mission at launch, approached only by Hubble, and is far more complex than any other space science mission. Its flawless launch and deployments are a testament to the engineering and management commitment of thousands of people in the US and their partner nations, Europe and Canada. Yet there is a further dimension to ensuring the success of a $10B science mission like JWST —and that is the crucial support of policy and decision makers in the US and in its partners.
Hosted by Prof Peter Quinn, Garth will give a broad overview of the multi-faceted technical and political challenges that JWST faced, and overcame, in the 35 years from its original conception. He will then show some of the first results from Webb and how, within just weeks after the first images were revealed by NASA, JWST had upset the apple-cart of the most distant galaxies and is already revealing remarkable new, and surprising, results on the first galaxies.
Details
Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Time: Doors open at 630pm for a 7pm start. Please be seated by 645pm.
Location: The University Club of Western Australia, Auditorium
Cost: Free!
