Join us on Tuesday, October 18 at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern as Jackie Faherty from the American Museum of Natural History tells us about how NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will enhance our understanding of low mass stars and exoplanets.

Brown Dwarfs and Directly Imaged Exoplanets in the Era of JWST

The James Webb Space Telescope is a game changer for astronomy. However, the influence that this momentous telescope has varies on each subfield.  One area of science that JWST will be particularly impactful is substellar astrophysics, or the study of objects that do not have stable hydrogen burning.  Often called brown dwarfs, these objects 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 whose properties cross 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 other accepted projects by instrument science teams that will revolutionize what we know about the atmospheres of worlds beyond our solar system.


About Our Speaker

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. 

Webinar Registration Link  for NSN Members (Zoom):
Night Sky Network members can join live, ask questions, and get up-to-date information about the resource via the Zoom platform. NSNmember login required
Link: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=714

Webinar Livestream & Recording (YouTube)
The talk will also be streamed live at the YouTube link below. Please note that questions submitted via the Zoom QA feature will have priority over YouTube chat.
The recording will be available afterwards on this page and also at the same link. 
Link:  https://youtu.be/O9aK-49VevQ

NSN Webinar Series Page: Current & Upcoming Event Schedule:
https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/news-display.cfm?News_ID=707

Additional Information and Resources
Brown Dwarf Research at ANMH
http://www.bdnyc.org/

Backyard Worlds on Zooniverse
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marckuchner/backyard-worlds-planet-9

Last Updated: September 16, 2022