FIRST LIGHT:THE DAWN OF STARS AND GALAXIES: ILLUSTRATED TALK by Prof James Dunlop University of Edinburgh

Due to the finite speed of light, astronomers have the unique privilege of being able to look back in time, now reaching back almost to the beginning of our Universe. Within this exploration of cosmic history, a key and long-standing goal of astrophysics and cosmology is to discover and study the first objects that formed out of the previously smooth debris from the Big Bang. Crucially, this quest includes the search for the first stars and galaxies which lit up the Universe and created the elements required for life.
Jim will set the scene for this quest and review recent progress at the research frontier, culminating in a presentation and discussion of the latest results from the first two years of observing with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Until now the observational search for so-called ‘cosmic dawn’ was limited by the available technology. Now, given the remarkable performance of JWST, this appears to no longer be the case – we may finally be on the verge of discovering `First Light’.
Jim Dunlop’s research has made extensive use of NASA/ESA facilities, especially the “Great Observatories”, often pushing these space-based observing platforms to the limits of their capabilities: he was the first non-US PI of a major (300-hr) legacy observing program on the Spitzer space observatory, was European lead on the 1000-orbit HST CANDELS Treasury program, and co-led the HST Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012 (HUDF12) program which produced the deepest ever near-infrared image of the sky.
Jim is now PI of the largest Cycle-1 James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) “Galaxies” program: PRIMER = Public Release IMaging for Extragalactic Research. See less
Hawick

Tickets: £5.00
Reserve by emailing Stuart: projects@cornucopia.net