Special Lecture: Solar System Science from the James Webb Space Telescope

Please join us on Sep 1st for a special lecture on JWST hosted by Georgia Tech Astrobiology in collaboration with Spelman College Physics Department!

This event has been moved to fully virtual.

Title: Solar System Science from the James Webb Space Telescope
Presenter: Dr. Naomi Rowe-Gurney, Postdoctoral Research Associate, NASA Goddard & University of Maryland, College Park
Date/Time: Friday September 1 at 11am Eastern
Location: Zoom (https://gatech.zoom.us/s/98324828756) Suddath Seminar Room, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) Room 1228

Livestream - https://www.youtube.com/live/0263lN3xC0s?feature=share

Abstract: It has been just over a year since the JWST has completed its commissioning phase and started sending back ground-breaking science, not just from distant stars and galaxies but also from our own Solar System. Heidi Hammel’s cycle 1 GTO programs focused on Solar System science. This includes the investigation into the potential of ocean worlds to exhibit chemical signatures of astrobiological interest, short- and medium-term climate monitoring of the giant planets, and exploratory spectroscopic studies of the full menagerie of asteroids and comets, from near-Earth objects to the Kuiper belt. These programs were designed to be benchmark observations for the JWST mission. In this talk I will introduce the JWST, its capabilities for the Solar System and show off the ground-breaking science that this huge observatory has already done. I will outline the plans for the future and what to look forward to in the next JWST cycles using Ice Giant (Uranus and Neptune) atmospheric science as a detailed example.

Dr. Naomi Rowe-Gurney is a postdoctoral scholar supporting the JWST missions in observing the ice giant planets. Her research interest are in atmospheric characterization of Uranus and Nepture through observations from space telescopes. Her talk will be focused on capabilities of JWST in observing the Solar System and upcoming plans for future observations of the ice giants. She also is the 2023 Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and National Society of Black Physicists(BSBP) Speaker Awardee.