When: Monday March 10, 2025 7:30pm-9:00pm
Where: Brownell Library, 6 Lincoln St, Essex Junction, VT 05452

The Vermont Astronomical Society presents: The James Web Telescope Three Years On, by Neil Perlin

Only three years ago, on December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched to tremendous fanfare, non-stop news articles, and presentations packed with scientists and with non-scientists wondering what all the fuss was about. But since then, what? You may have seen some of the spectacular photos from the Webb but they tend to be published with little description – what are we looking at? And what about the scientific research and results, the meat of the mission?

This presentation will summarize where the James Webb stands to date. We'll look at four aspects:
-The technologies, and why origami is a telescope designer's friend.
-Some of the spectacular pictures from the James Webb and an explanation of what they show.
-Some of the scientific results so far, and some of the studies underway now.
-And, as cutting edge as the James Webb is, what comes next?

Follow-on mini-talk: Observations of Exoplanets by Amateurs, presented by Brad Vietje

What it takes to make exoplanet observations as an amateur. "Observations" in this sense means photometry on a time series of a few hundred images over 4-6 hours, so there's nothing to "see" in the eyepiece.

Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month by Terri Zittritsch.

All Meetings are Free and Open to the Public: In-person and via Zoom
To attend on Zoom: ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net, or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM

VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

For those attending via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30pm. To download the Zoom application go to Zoom.us. If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.

The Vermont Astronomical Society is a group of amateur astronomers with varying backgrounds and levels of expertise whose mission is to promote amateur astronomy in Vermont.

If you spend your clear nights looking up at the stars and wondering which constellations you are seeing, wish you knew the names of the most brilliant stars, or where to find the planets currently visible, we can help.

For more information please visit: https://vtastro.org/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VTAstroSociety

Event Info

Mar 5, 2025, 6 to 8:30 PM

Mar 8, 2025, 10:30 to 11:30 AM

Mar 8, 2025, 4 to 8 PM