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JWST Launch: Last View of the Telescope, Image Credit: JWST, NASA, ESA

Published: 07 November 2024

Pro ISSI Talk with Michael R. Meyer
(J. Geiss Fellow 2024 and Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, USA)

recorded on 6th November 2024

Pro ISSI Talk

Star

Exoplanets

Universe

JWST

Origins of Stars, Planets, and Life (?): Highlights from Early Science with the JWST

Over 20 years ago, the instrument teams for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) outlined comprehensive science programs to answer to key questions concerning the origins of stars and planets, with implications as well for the origin of life.

Recorded Talk

Abstract

Deep observations of pre- and protostellar molecular cloud cores reveal the initial conditions of star formation, the composition of star- and planet-forming gas and dust, the first compact objects that form from collapse, and feedback from star formation which may contribute to self-regulation. Observations of brown dwarfs in young clusters and in the field, reveal multiplicity, atmospheric structure, and composition of these enigmatic objects that represent either the low mass end of the initial mass function or the high mass limit of planet formation. Imaging and spectroscopy of planet-forming circumstellar disks reveal how interstellar ingredients are transmuted into the building blocks of planets and the emergence of forming proto-planets in these disks. Observations of mature gas giants and brown dwarf companions as a function of host star mass, orbital separation, and mass ratio may reveal how the complex processes of planet formation determine their composition and help regulate the delivery of volatiles to potentially habitable planets. The speaker will describe the power of JWST compared to complementary facilities, review relevant results from the first year of JWST science operations, and provide some hint of future exciting results to come.

About the Speaker

Michael R. Meyer has been a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Michigan since 2016. He was Chair of Star and Planet Formation at the ETH in Zürich (2009-2016) and was formerly a Professor/Astronomer at the Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona (2000-2009). He was a Hubble Fellow at the University of Arizona (1997-2000) and did a post-doc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomie (1995-1997). Prof. Meyer is a world recognized expert in the formation, evolution, and characterisation of planetary systems, and associated implications on the prospects for life in the Universe. He has also been deeply involved in the development of ground- and space-based instrumentation, including both the NIRCam and NIRISS instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope as well as high contrast imaging systems/spectrographs for 6-10 meter telescopes and next generation extremely large telescopes. Prof. Meyer is the current Johannes Geiss Fellow 2024.

Credits ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Martel