PHAS Colloquium Series: The James Webb Space Telescope Project: Building the Next Generation Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for more than 25 years and has been the driving force behind many of the key advances in astronomy in that period of time. Starting in the early-1990s, planning began on putting a new and larger optical/near-infrared telescope into space. This, the James Webb Space telescope, is in the final stages of assembly and is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2018. JWST is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, with Canada providing the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph science instrument (NIRISS). Dr. Kevin Volk, with the Space Telescope Science Institute, will describe the general properties and current status of JWST and its instruments, with some emphasis on the NIRISS/FGS development and testing. Speaker: Dr. Kevin Volk, CSA NIRISS Support Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute Dr. Volk obtained his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Calgary, receiving his PhD in 1986. Subsequently he has worked as a support astronomer, currently for the NIRISS instrument on JWST and before that at Gemini Observatory. Beginning more on the theoretical side of astronomy, for the last 20 years his work has involved data reduction and analysis, especially instrument calibration in the near-infrared and the far-infrared.
Location:
Science B 144
More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/phas-colloquium-series-james-webb-space-telescope-project-building-next-generation-space