Seminar of the Institue of Physics - Michal zajaček

• ustav
• 25.11.2021

On December 18, 2021 we are expecting the rocket launch of the year - James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be launched on the Ariane 5 rocket from the ESA Kourou station in French Guiana. After about one-month journey to its final destination, 1.5 mil. km distant L2 point, it will start observing the Universe at infrared wavelengths between 0.6 to 28.5 micrometers. I will describe the main four scientific instruments of the JWST (NIRCam, NIRSpec, MIRI, NIRISS) and the main scientific objectives (first stars and galaxies in the Universe, formation of stars and protoplanets, exoplanets, Solar System bodies). Then I will specifically focus on the special program of the JWST: the observations of the Galactic center, some of which will be performed in parallel with the Event Horizon Telescope observations at 2.1 and 4.8 micrometers to study the flare emission. One of the main questions JWST will help to answer is if stars are still forming in the Galactic center and it will clarify the subsolar population of massive starburst clusters like the Arches and the Quintuplet clusters. These dense clusters contain up to 10^4 Solar masses of stars and the JWST will shed light on the initial mass function in these dense clusters and the circumstellar disc lifetime in the dense and the harsh environment.