University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Planetarium & Jackson-Madison County Public Library Join NASA in Nationwide Celebration of Webb Space Telescope First Science Images
June 28, 2022 — The University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Planetarium & Jackson-Madison County Public Library have joined hundreds of sites across the country to celebrate the release of the first science images from the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s next great space science observatory.
An in-person event will be held in the Program Room of the Jackson-Madison County Library on July 14 from 2-5 p.m., and will include games, handouts for children and adults, informational presentations, an informal Q&A and a look at the release of the first full-color scientific photos from the James Webb Space Telescope. The event is free and open to all. The Jackson-Madison County Library is located at 433 East Lafayette Street in Jackson.
There will also be a virtual event held July 12 from 2-5 p.m. on the University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Facebook page to celebrate the immediate release of the images.
“We are thrilled that the University of Memphis Lambuth M. D. Anderson Planetarium & Jackson-Madison County Public Library have been selected as an official host site for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope community events celebrating Webb’s first stunning images,” said UofM Lambuth Dean Niles Reddick. “The M. D. Anderson Planetarium on the University of Memphis Lambuth campus has partnered with the Jackson-Madison County Library to help our community celebrate this amazing feat of science and engineering. People of all ages and backgrounds will find inspiration in Webb’s new view of the cosmos, which will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe for this generation and many to come.”
Webb is the largest and most complex space science telescope ever built – the premier observatory of the next decade. This international mission, led by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, launched Dec. 25, 2021. After unfolding in space into its final form, Webb successfully arrived at its destination nearly 1 million miles from Earth and began preparing for science operations.
The observatory, which is designed to see the universe in the infrared, will push the field of astronomy into a new era. Webb will be able to study light from distant parts of the universe for the very first time – the first galaxies that formed over 13.5 billion years ago – and give us insight into how our universe formed. It will also peer into dusty stellar nurseries to explore distant worlds orbiting other stars, as well as observe objects in our own solar system. Webb will extend the scientific discoveries of other NASA missions like the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
To learn more about the Webb telescope, visit webb.nasa.gov or webbtelescope.org. For information about other Webb community event locations, click here.