Behind the Webb

First of all – best wishes for the new year to you all!

Working on an instrument for James Webb Space Telescope I regularly receive emails from NASA when the telescope features in the media or new images are released. Recently I discovered that there’s a new site for JWST called webbtelescope.org – in the style of hubblesite.org – and it contains a couple of episodes of a relatively new video podcast series called Behind the Webb. The first episode was about the detectors for MIRI, the mid-infrared instrument whose testing and calibration I work on. As the components that actually transform the incoming photons from the teelscope into a digital signal that we can see, record, process and interpret, the detectors are the heart of the instrument – and this episode is a nice intro to how it all works. Watch it below via YouTube or go to the original page (whose embed code doesn’t seem to work).

Moore Foundation funds detector research

Artists impression of the 30-m primary mirror of the Thirthy Meter Telescope (TMT)

Artist's impression of the 30-m primary mirror of the Thirthy Meter Telescope (TMT)

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation recently awarded $2.8 million to researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology for the development of noiseless detectors in the framework of the Thirty Meter Telescope project. This is really good news for astronomers: not only is it a significant amount of money invested in a hugely important area of our science, the Foundation’s high profile helps raise awareness of the value of this work. Personally I’m happy this research is being carried out at a research institution rather than a private company, as corporate strategies are not always compatible with the “niche applications” that astronomy instruments usually are.

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