Antonella Nota
The past few months have seen many activities to share with you all, regarding both our missions: Hubble and Webb. In spite of the continued pandemic, work has progressed at a frenzied pace.
Hubble has celebrated the 31st anniversary of its launch! To mark yet another year of breakthrough scientific discoveries, ESA/Hubble has deployed a suite of initiatives that are much liked, judging by the attention they received. You can find here all the information you need to be the coolest “Hubble hugger” out there. This is your chance to get that Hubble-based animated gif you have always wanted, to make your social media postings truly unique, or to choose from a portfolio of the most beautiful Hubble images to use as a backdrop to your (Chrome only) browser.
And, 31 years after launch, we are delighted to report that, in Cycle 29, we received the highest number of proposals since Cycle 25, as more and more of you are thinking of how to use Hubble and Webb in synergy in the pursuit of science. In June, we will welcome many of you, virtually again, to evaluate the submitted proposals and assemble the Cycle 29 science programme. Our thanks to all of you who have made yourselves available for this important work. We are aware we are asking a lot of you and we appreciate all your hard work, especially in pandemic conditions.
In parallel, the JWST Cycle 1 science programme has been published, in all its glory. The first cycle of JWST’s life as an extraordinary observatory will be packed to the brim with observations from the Guaranteed Time Program, the Early Release Observations and the General Observer programme, which was debated during a two-week-long peer review (virtual) meeting, in which more than 200 astronomers from all over the world participated. Read here about European participation in the process and the fantastic success of European astronomers in obtaining JWST time. My heartfelt thanks to all the peer review participants, who spent (truly) long hours to ensure that the JWST first cycle programme is as compelling as it could be. They all felt the significance of being part of this historical moment and went the extra mile (kilometre) to make sure that the process was robust and fair. On the subject of fairness, the dual anonymous process showed once again that it is so much more compelling to discuss the science rather than the scientists, finally producing equity on gender distribution. As a remarkable byproduct, 9% of the successful proposers were students. This would have been unheard of before the dual anonymous process was established.
Now the reward for all of us invested in the JWST programme is to receive those data, and see just what JWST will be capable of. JWST is a complex observatory and the data will be complex too; but no worries, there will be plenty of help to learn how to extract every bit of science from the data that will populate the archive from the beginning of Cycle 1. Do not miss the very popular JWebbinars, which are designed to help you to navigate data analysis and get your scientific paper out pronto. Please read here about what JWebbinars are planned and how to register. Make sure you register early!
With the JWST launch only a few months away, it is all becoming very real. A very tangible sense of urgency and anticipation is in the air. And as I start my final year with ESA, I cannot avoid thinking how fortunate I have been to be involved in these two incredible missions. For those of you interested in becoming the next ESA Project Scientist for Hubble and Webb, in Baltimore, keep an eye on the ESA Career page, as my position will be advertised soon. Do consider applying — it is a lot of fun, I promise!
Contact
Antonella Nota
ESA/HST & ESA/JWST Project Scientist
STScI Baltimore, USA
Email: hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu
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20 May 2021: Antonella Nota
The James Webb Space Telescope has completed a very important milestone: the Cycle 1 scientific programme has been assembled and published. Scientific observations are expected to start approximately seven months after launch and include three different categories of observations: Guaranteed Time Observations (GTOs) (3800 hours), Early Release Science (ERS) (500 hours) and the General Observer (GO) programme, which …
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20 May 2021: Tim Rawle
Six months before its launch, excitement is building around the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). After blast-off, there will be another six months of spacecraft and instrument commissioning before the first cycle of JWST science observations finally commences. Therefore, the first science data will be received less than a year from now.
With the recent selection of …
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20 May 2021: Bethany Downer
The Hubble Space Telescope has become a household name over its more than three decades of operation. Each year around 24 April the scientific community and the public alike come together to celebrate Hubble’s remarkable achievements. ESA/Hubble uses this opportunity to develop special initiatives to engage and involve the public in this annual milestone.
In addition to the …
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20 May 2021: Bethany Downer
We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of the ESA/Hubble outreach team’s work and purpose. The outreach team is composed of scientists, science writers, visual artists, image processing specialists and more, who are all eager to showcase the research of the European Hubble users and institutions to the wider ESA/Hubble community and general public.
We …
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