Where it came from, where it is, how it works and what it’s doing

an astro-chat with

Professor Don Kurtz

Visiting Professor, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln, UK

Friday, 23 September 2022

7:00-8:00 pm

Live online

Book a place

After decades of planning and work by thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries, at a cost of $10 billion, the biggest, most complex space telescope, the JWST or “Webb”, has successfully deployed to a halo orbit about the Sun-Earth L2 point and is now releasing stunning observations that will rewrite the textbooks. It is an infrared telescope built of the lightest metal, Beryllium, with mirrors coated in gold. It operates at temperatures as cold as -267 C, near to absolute zero. Already, it has taken pictures of some of the first galaxies after the Big Bang, of region of star birth in the Milky Way, of dying stars, of the atmospheres of exoplanets with the potential for life, and even of Jupiter in stunning detail. This live AstroChat is about where it came from, where it is, how it works and what it’s doing.

This is our 11th Astro-Chat with our distinguished guest Professor Don Kurtz. The session will include a brief illustrated introduction followed by questions and answers. Members of the public will be able to ask questions in the live-chat. The event is hosted by Professor Andrei Zvelindovsky, Head of the School of Maths & Physics at the University of Lincoln, UK.