Location: Belmont Village of Lincoln Park (700 W Fullerton)

Members & guests: free.

This July, join the Men’s Group for an exciting presentation by esteemed speaker, Chris Murray.

Chris Murray will return with an update on the mysteries of the Universe as revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope in the year since it was launched.  He says these “are the greatest advances in science in our lifetimes”.

More about the James Webb Space Telescope:
Peering deeply into the cosmos, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists their first detailed glimpse of supernovae from a time when our universe was just a small fraction of its current age. A team using Webb data has identified 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than were previously known.

“Webb is a supernova discovery machine,” said Christa DeCoursey, a third-year graduate student at the Steward Observatory and the University of Arizona in Tucson. “The sheer number of detections plus the great distances to these supernovae are the two most exciting outcomes from our survey.” Rocky, carbon-rich exoplanets more likely around tiny stars, James Webb Space Telescope reveals. Astronomers using the JWST have discovered tiny stars may be better suited at birthing small, rocky planets with atmospheres dominated by carbon.

…the infrared radiation JWST sees penetrates dust, opening a new window into star birth. For example, it has revealed thousands of new stars buried deep within the Eagle Nebula (M16) that Hubble couldn’t reach. And JWST also showed remarkable detail in a section of the nearby Rho Ophiuchi complex. The telescope’s images have revealed dozens of young low-mass stars as well as the jets they emit, which light up surrounding clouds of molecular hydrogen.

Although images draw the most attention, spectroscopy plays a huge role in JWST’s explorations. It allows astronomers to determine the redshift, and thus distance, of faraway galaxies, and to analyze the chemical composition of astronomical objects. Nowhere is this more important than in the study of exoplanet atmospheres, where JWST’s infrared capabilities allow it to detect molecules invisible in optical light. Among its many discoveries, JWST has found methane, carbon dioxide, and dimethyl sulfide in K2-18 b, a rocky world in its star’s habitable zone, hinting that it could harbor a water ocean on its surface.

This event is accessible.