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MRL Joins NASA in Webb Telescope Program November 18th

“Scoping the Past in the Present” free Zoom program features UVA’s Yao-Lun Yang, Ph.D.

Massanutten Regional Library is pleased to have been selected by NASA to bring a special program on the James Webb Space Telescope to our community, live over Zoom, on November 18, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. 

Webb will be the most powerful telescope ever put into space and will be able to study the first stars and galaxies which formed in the early universe. In order to see such faint objects, Webb must be able to detect things that are ten billion times as faint as the faintest stars visible without a telescope (between 10-100 times fainter than what the Hubble telescope can see).

Set to launch on December 18, 2021, the $10 billion Webb telescope will:

  • search for the first galaxies or luminous objects formed after the Big Bang;
  • determine how galaxies evolved from their formation until now;
  • observe the formation of stars from the first stages to the formation of planetary systems;
  • measure the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems, including our own Solar System, and investigate the potential for life in those systems.

“We are pleased that Dr. Yao-Lun Yang, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Virginia, will join us for this program and guide us through the significance of Webb, both for his own research and in astronomical exploration in general,” said Susan Versen, MRL’s Head of Reference Services. “We invite all in our community to come explore the universe with MRL, NASA, and Webb as we delve into the endless possibilities this instrument will provide in understanding the astronomy of the past while in the present.”

All events hosted by Massanutten Regional Library, including this program, are free and open to the public, and you do not need a library card to participate. Interested participants can register through Zoom. The program will be recorded and housed within one week of the event on MRL’s YouTube for those unable to attend.

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