-By Chris Evans-
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023, with several activities to share with you from both our Hubble and Webb missions.
Most recently, the 33rd anniversary of Hubble’s launch was celebrated with the beautiful image release of the nearby star-forming region NGC 1333. To coincide with the anniversary, and following the successful launch of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission on 14 April, we have also released a new Space Sparks episode, which looks back at Hubble’s contributions to studies of Jupiter over the past three decades.
Looking ahead to future science programmes that take advantage of Hubble’s unique capabilities, the deadline for Cycle 31 proposals is fast approaching, on Wednesday 24 May (8 pm, Eastern Daylight Time). The latest Call for Proposals includes a new Target of Opportunity Category (`Flexible Thursdays’), the opportunity for joint HST-JWST proposals, and special initiatives seeking proposals within the Ultraviolet Initiative, Fundamental Physics with HST, and the HST-TESS Exoplanet Initiative.
Amid the tremendous wave of new JWST results so far this year, in late January we had the deadline for Cycle 2 JWST proposals. The response from the community was fantastic, with just over 1600 proposals received. Almost a third of these were led by investigators in ESA Member States, and we’re looking forward to seeing the Cycle 2 programme after the Time Allocation Committee has concluded its deliberations.
Unsurprisingly, JWST features prominently in plans for this year’s European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting in Poland in July, including a community session on the first day to set the scene for the week (learn more here). Further dates for your diaries are the First Year of JWST Science Conference, to be hosted at STScI on 11–14 September 2023, and a Masterclass on JWST science data exploitation, to be held at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Spain, in early December 2023; stay tuned for more details on both of these events.
Lastly, we are currently advertising for ESA/AURA astronomer positions to support our missions at STScI. If you’re interested in joining the team in Baltimore, please apply here (the call will close soon, on 10 May).
Chris Evans
ESA/HST & ESA/JWST Project Scientist
ESA Office, STScI Baltimore, USA
Email: hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu
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2 May 2023: -Chris Evans-
Final plans are now coming together for an exciting agenda at this year’s European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting, in Kraków, Poland (10–14 July 2023). Coinciding with the first anniversary of JWST science operations that week, there is a rich scientific programme of JWST results at the meeting.
To set the scene at the start of the week …
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2 May 2023: -Stephane Charlot (Institut d’astrophysique de Paris)-
As I write I have just finished my term as a NIRSpec team and ESA representative on the JWST Users Committee (JSTUC). My time on the committee has spanned the intense and remarkable work by all those involved in the project ahead of the launch and during commissioning, and into the tremendously exciting …
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