A Wealth of Other Worlds: Planets through the Eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope

Dr. Sarah Moran (University of Arizona) will discuss the chemistry, clouds, and climates of worlds within and beyond the Solar System. With the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we are seeing the worlds of our Solar System in a whole new light, seeing better into the infrared than ever before. Planets beyond the Solar System - aka “exoplanets” - put our own Solar System and Earth in context, helping us figure out whether life on Earth is unique. These planets also tell us about the limits of planetary formation and evolution. Though we have known of the existence of thousands of exoplanets for over a decade, detailed characterization has been limited with only the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories.

With JWST, new chemical and climate characterization is possible, letting us trace the carbon contents and complex molecules in other atmospheres. Dr. Moran will discuss the first 15 months of observations of other planets with JWST. In this time, we have made our first detection of sulfur chemistry on a warm Saturn-like planet, the first hints of an atmosphere on a rocky, Earth-sized planet, and have seen unprecedented views of our Solar System. She will put in context what these discoveries mean for finding habitable and possibly inhabited worlds in the future and celebrate the wonderful wealth of worlds that exist in our Universe.

Attend in person or online (see weblink)