St. Louis Astronomical Society Meeting: Webb's First Look at the Universe
On August 19, the SLAS meeting will be held under the 80-foot dome of the St. Louis Science Center's McDonnell Planetarium in Forest Park.
In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, December 25, 2021, a rocket carrying the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched. By the end of January 2022, the JWST had traveled more than 1.4 million kilometers (930,000 miles) to its final orbit. Telescope alignment and instrument calibration was completed in late-April. On July 11th and 12th, the first JWST images were released to the public. The first objects studied by JWST were exo-planets, dying stars and stellar birth places inside our Milky Way galaxy, and colliding galaxies and infant galaxies seen when the universe was 13 billion years younger than it is today. What do those images mean? What questions will JWST answer during its lifespan? A panel of local space enthusiasts will present their initial thoughts on the amazing images from the James Webb Space Telescope office.
The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events. For more information about Astronomical Society events, please visit www.slasonline.org or call 314-962-9231. The event, cosponsored by NASA's Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University, is open to the public free of charge.
The McDonnell Planetarium is located at 5100 Clayton Avenue in Forest Park. Free parking is available in the Planetarium parking lot. If you prefer to attend virtually, non-members of SLAS may request the Zoom link here: