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Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Webb Telescope and NASA’s Next Big Thing,” with Ori Fox, Deputy Project Scientist for the Roman Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now a household name, having produced spectacular images of the most distant objects in our universe and revolutionized our understanding of what exists beyond our planet. Yet NASA is already far along in thinking about its next big telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which it expects to play a pivotal role in astrophysics in the 2020s and beyond.
Learn about the latest developments in both scientific undertakings from Ori Fox, who previously gave an excellent Profs and Pints talk on the Webb telescope, for which he served as an instrument scientist, and now plays a key role in the planning of the Roman telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Roman’s science and operations center.
He’ll discuss how the Roman space telescope will be able to survey the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble, collecting near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic data with Hubble-quality resolution and sensitivity over fields of view 200 times greater than the Hubble’s. The Roman’s data will enrich all areas of astrophysics by enabling studies of nearly every class of astronomical object, phenomenon, and environment across the observable universe. The Roman’s scientific goals will include the discovery of thousands of new planets and pinpointing the source of a mysterious force called Dark Energy that permeates our Universe.
Dr. Fox also will give us a detailed update on tantalizing new images and scientific results from the Webb. They include discovery of the most distant galaxies ever observed, high-resolution images of extraordinary explosions, and details about far-away exoplanets beyond our wildest imagination.
Listening to him will be a stellar experience. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: A rendering of the planned Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
