Exciting Results with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, San Francisco

Free, fascinating event brought to you by the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers! Open to the public.

Abstract: JWST, the largest telescope in space, detects infrared (heat) radiation, providing information not available to the Hubble Space Telescope. It allows astronomers to study the birth of stars, newly formed dust in the gases ejected by dying stars, and the atmospheric composition of planets orbiting other stars. Among JWST’s most surprising results so far is the very early formation of galaxies after the Big Bang.

Bio: Alex Filippenko is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the world’s most highly cited astrophysicists. He studies exploding stars, black holes, galaxies, and the expansion of the Universe. Voted the “Best Professor” on campus a record 9 times, in 2006 he was named the National Professor of the Year. He has produced 5 video courses, coauthored an award-winning astronomy textbook, and appears in more than 120 TV documentaries.