Free Live NSN Webinar Series: Brown Dwarfs and Directly Imaged Exoplanets in the Era of JWST
Join us on Tuesday, October 18 at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern as Jackie Faherty from the American Museum of Natural History tells us about the JWST will enhance our understanding of low mass stars, and exoplanets.
The James Webb Space Telescope is a game changer in Astronomy. However the influence that this momentous telescope has varies on each subfield. One area of science that JWST is particularly impactful for is substellar Astrophysics or the study of objects that do not have stable Hydrogen burning. Often called brown dwarfs, sources that do not have enough mass to ignite a core with fusion cool throughout their lives. Their effective temperatures are a fraction of that of the Sun so they are not visible to the naked eye. Instead they give off the majority of their light in the infrared where JWST is optimized.
Brown dwarfs are rich Astrophysical objects that cross in their properties with low mass stars and giant exoplanets. In this webinar I will take you through how and what JWST will be doing scientifically at the crossroads of stars and planets. I’ll focus on a new program that I have accepted as well as several accepted projects by instrument science teams that will revolutionize what we know about atmospheres of worlds beyond our solar system.
About Jackie Faherty:
Jackie Faherty is a senior scientist and senior education manager at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Her research group entitled “Brown Dwarfs in New York City (BDNYC)” is at the forefront of low mass star, brown dwarf and giant exoplanet characterization studies. She is also co-founder of the successful citizen science project called “Backyard Worlds: Planet 9" which has involved over 150,000 volunteers in searches for previously missed cold components of the nearby solar neighborhood. In her unique position at AMNH, Faherty strives to create more opportunities for underrepresented minorities to enter STEM through unique outreach endeavors.
The event will also be streaming live on YouTube, but please note that questions asked over the NSN-members-only Zoom Q&A will be prioritized.
