JWST Talk by Prof Ewine van Dishoeck
Fri Aug 9, 15:00 - Fri Aug 9, 16:30
Whale Well, IZIKO South African Museum
ABOUT
Join us this National Women's Day on 9th August at the IZIKO South African Museum for a special talk on the amazing results from the James Webb Space Telescope, presented by past-IAU president Prof Ewine van Dishoeck.
Webb: a new exploration of the cosmos!
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, or Webb) is the new flagship mission led by NASA. It is orders of magnitude more powerful than previous missions and will therefore push the boundaries of human knowledge even further, from the formation of the first galaxies in the universe to the building of new stars and planets. This talk will highlight some of the exciting early science results from Webb, with a focus on characterizing the material that makes planets and charting the horizons of other worlds. Could there be life outside our solar system?
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Ewine van Dishoeck is Professor of Molecular Astrophysics at Leiden University (The Netherlands). The research of her group innovatively unites the world of chemistry with that of physics and astronomy. She helped develop the most powerful telescopes in the world, including the James Webb Space Telescope. She was awarded the 2018 Kavli Prize for Astrophysics. From 2018-2021, Ewine served as the President of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).