Amber Straughn

Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard

Infant Galaxies and Alien Atmospheres: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

For almost a quarter century, the Hubble Space Telescope has been revealing the unknown cosmos; this single scientific instrument has completely revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. Despite the remarkable advances in astronomy that Hubble has provided, the new questions that have arisen demand a new space telescope with new technologies and capabilities. I will present the exciting new technology development and science goals of Hubble's ~100x-more-powerful successor, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently being built and tested and will launch in 2021. This engineering marvel is designed to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, from discovering the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang to studying the atmospheres of planets around other stars.