JWST

How Will JWST Study Exoplanets?

Posted by admin on July 6, 2023

Posted in: First Friday Astronomy, Public Outreach. Tagged: exoplanets, JWST, transit spectroscopy.

From https://webbtelescope.org/resource-gallery/articles. (This is a slightly updated reprint of an article originally run Nov 2021.)

An artist’s concept of the Webb Space Telescope. From https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/james-webb-space-telescope/in-depth/.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch on December 18, will primarily use its spectrographs – specialized instruments that capture and spread out light like a rainbow – to study exoplanets. By analyzing this data, known as spectra, researchers will be able to measure exoplanets’ compositions and chemistries. Spectra will help refine what we know about any exoplanet Webb observes, including massive gas giants, mid-sized ice giants, and smaller rocky exoplanets (some of which could be similar to Earth). In a few cases, JWST will deliver images of exoplanets to reveal more about them.

PHYS305 – 2023 Mar 1

Posted by admin on February 28, 2023

Posted in: Teaching. Tagged: JWST.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR2tTlj8XgTPiZMXM5aU0wBbvxZALlbgDhE1JjvaX0tEudzVMUZtRrIAuLU-za5nJlRjbo4r5ChP3qh/pub

https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.09890

JWST and the Formation of Stars

Posted by admin on July 30, 2022

Posted in: First Friday Astronomy, Public Outreach. Tagged: JWST, star formation.

Need a new perspective? Here’s some Webb-inspired #MondayMotivation: Sometimes, seeing clearly requires looking at things with a fresh set of eyes. When you’re able to peer through the dust, that’s when you can reveal even more stars. ✨ pic.twitter.com/VwVikbHdlL
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) July 25, 2022

JWST observations compared to Hubble’s.

Like the musical “Hamilton”, the James Webb Space Telescope lives up to the hype. Already, astronomers have used it to discover galaxies older and more distant than ever before, and it’s only getting started. One of the astronomical processes JWST will elucidate is the formation of stars. Understanding star formation is critical if we want to answer questions about the origin of life on Earth and the possibility for life elsewhere in the universe. But even though scientists have been thinking about star formation since before the word “scientist” existed, some of the most basic questions about the process remain unanswered.