Abstract

Invited Talk - Plenary

Thursday, 15 September 2022, 12:00   (Keksdose / virtual plenum)

The James Webb Space Telescope: from first light to new planets

Mark McCaughrean
European Space Agency

After more than three decades of development, construction, integration, and test, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope was launched from French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021 before six months of complex deployment and commissioning in orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. In this talk, I'll give an overview of the scientific rationale for this astonishing machine, the technological challenges that had to be overcome in realising it, some insight into the early scientific results, and possible breakthroughs that it promises now that it is in full operation.