Idaho State University Chosen by NASA to Join Nationwide Celebration of the James Webb Space Telescope Launch

Idaho State University’s College of Technology has been asked to join almost 500 sites across the country to celebrate the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s next great space science observatory. The celebration will be held in the William M. and Karin A. Eames Advanced Technical Education and Innovation Complex on Wednesday, November 17 from 4:30 – 7 p.m.

“We are thrilled that ISU’s College of Technology is an official host site for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launch community events,” said Katie Leishman, Project Coordinator for the Center for New Directions at ISU. “We have partnered with the Idaho STEM Action Center and Northrup Grumman to help our community celebrate this amazing feat of science, engineering, and technology. We are inviting people of all ages and backgrounds come to this event and find inspiration in the Webb mission. It will be an opportunity for participants to learn about the Webb Space Telescope and educational pathways offered at Idaho State University that can lead to careers at NASA.”

Charity Woodrum, doctoral candidate for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Arizona as well as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow will speak about her experience working as part of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope science team. Richard Hawkes, Northrop Grumman’s Senior Director of Operations will also speak about their involvement in the creation of the telescope.

Webb is the largest and most complex space science telescope ever built – the premier observatory of the next decade. This international mission, led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies, will launch in December 2021.

The observatory will provide a new view of the cosmos and push the field of astronomy into a new era. The telescope will observe the universe in the infrared, peering inside dust clouds to study light from distant parts of the universe for the very first time – the first galaxies that formed about 13.5 billion years ago – and give us insight into how our universe formed. It will also explore distant worlds in other solar systems, as well as objects in our own solar system. Webb will extend the scientific discoveries of other NASA missions like the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

The ISU College of Technology’s Webb Space Telescope Community Event will be free and open to the public. This event will be in-person. Masks are required.

To learn more about the Webb telescope, visit webb.nasa.gov. 

For information about other Webb community event locations, visit webb.nasa.gov/content/features/celebrateWebb.html. To learn more about the College of Technology, visit isu.edu/tech.