What has the James Webb Space Telescope discovered in its first year? – with Naomi Rowe-Gurney

Discover some of the exciting discoveries in our Solar System, made by the JWST in its first year of operation.

Embark on a journey of cosmic exploration with NASA scientist Naomi Rowe-Gurney as she explores the mysteries of our celestial neighbourhood. Discover the secrets of the planets, moons, and small bodies within our solar system.

This talk was recorded at the Ri on 14 July 2023.

00:00 Intro
01:58 What is the JWST and how is it different from other telescopes?
08:00 How does the JWST work?
12:58 What was the JWST built for?
17:56 The first year of the JWST
19:35 The phases of launching the JWST
24:54 What has the JWST discovered in the Solar System?
25:36 Near Earth Objects (NEOs)
26:57 JWST and Hubble working together
28:05 Mars
29:46 Main belt - asteroids and comets
31:43 Jupiter
32:56 Saturn and its moons
36:40 Centaurs - half-comet, half-asteroid
38:21 Uranus
40:47 Neptune
44:07 The Kuiper Belt
45:22 What's next for JWST?
47:40 The Uranus orbiter and probe
48:47 Where to find out more

Naomi is a Planetary Science postdoctoral research associate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center employed by University of Maryland College Park (CRESST II) working with the JWST. She obtained her PhD in 2021 from the University of Leicester. Her thesis used archived data from the Spitzer Space Telescope to study the thermal structure and composition of the middle atmospheres of the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune. She used the retrieval algorithm NEMESIS and built a consistent retrieval framework for the ice giant planets ahead of the launch of the JWST. She was a member of the scattered light and moving target commissioning team for JWST and continues to work with data from the telescope. Naomi also leads a Hubble Space Telescope program designed to support ice giant JWST observations. Throughout her PhD and postdoc, Naomi has used her past experience as a teacher to partake in significant public engagement work and has engaged in considerable equality, diversity and inclusion work promoting science to underrepresented groups.

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[tizio]

Always a good day when the RI puts out another great production

[rhondah]

Completely fascinating stuff. I'm so old that I remember the Sputnik satellite when I was in the first grade and we got to hear it ping. Sadly, I will probably miss the upcoming truly dynamic era of space discoveries due to expiring long before a lot of it happens. I tried to inspire my nephews to get interested but sadly they found other interests. You young people, you have so much to look forward to and see of this universe. Don't miss any of it.

[gcm]

37:47 this is insanely cool. the precision if the measurements is mindblowing.

[Ballpoint]

Excellent presentation, best explanation of what is happening and what the JWST is all about. Fabulously well done Naomi!

[willderousse]

This was an excellent survey of JWST solar system. Well done. Would love t see more of these on deep space work!

[hrperformance]

Really exciting and superbly explained!

[jballenger]

Appreciate the dissection and diagraming of the JWST; explanation of its components, their functions and capabilities. The images are magical. Your presentation is a wonderful foundation for teaching and inspiring students at every educational level.

[cmatiolli]

This is the video about JWST I was waiting for!

[albertaoridge]

Thank god for this channel. I go to bed with these lectures playing every single night in my headphones.

[daveac]

Excellent - thank you. What a fantastic (and early) insight already into the Solar System - with the promise of 20+ years of further revelations to come. Exciting! :-)

[cmatiolli]

A deeper knowledge, well explained, for those interested in technical details

[procsorted]

Fascinating content and a fantastic presenter. Many thanks.

[sdsa]

This is amazing! I'm so excited for this technology!

[Gooner-ktvl]

Thank you for the presentation and explanations. You are great 😊
Everyone involved in this project should be applauded.

[sacredweeds]

Fabulous presentation!!

Finally getting used to the COVID 19 zoom presentation format 😶
I still miss the RI hall live presentation.

[ApteraEV]

Always a good day when Humanity is Showing us Our Possibilities ❤Putting to work those that want Purpose in Life❤🎉

[davidandrewsilver]

Thank you- great presentation! Cheers!

[johnl]

Aligning and phasing the mirror segments is far more challenging than focusing on the JWST. Good summary and beautiful science. Well done.

[domsau]

45:56 Oumuamua is nor cigar shaped, but more "flat" than "long" (Bannister and Laughlin).

[andycordy]

Lovely talk. Thank you!

For those of us lay people nervously following the launch and initial deployment process, the timeline seems odd because the phase of the operational year begin with the start of the science program and not launch, also it's easier to remember JWST's birthday as launch day because it was at Christmas. It still gives me goose bumps.

IMHO this kind of science is worth so much more than struggling to put humans back on the moon and the colossal effort required to put astronauts on Mars with its attendant dangers.

This is the first I have heard of the mission to Uranus. A stunning opportunity but I doubt I will live to see that arrival.