From the City to the Stars: Star-gazing
with the Webb Telescope
Join professional and amateur astronomers at the base of the full-scale, tennis court-sized James Webb Space Telescope model for a free evening of star-gazing in Battery Park. John Mather, Nobel laureate and the Webb telescope’s senior project scientist; John Grunsfeld, astronaut, physicist and “chief repairman” of the Hubble Telescope and planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel, with journalist Miles O’Brien moderating, will be with us to talk about the discoveries anticipated when the world’s most powerful space telescope, the successor to the Hubble, launches in 2014. Hayden Planetarium Director, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, will host the stargazing party to follow. It will be a festive evening of appreciating the vast wonders of the cosmos. Bring your telescope if you have one or plan to use one of the dozens we’ll have set up.
Moderator: Miles O'Brien
John M. Grunsfeld, a veteran of five space flights, has logged more than 58 days in space, including 58 hours and 30 minutes in eight space walks. During his walks, he and his team performed numerous repairs and upgrades to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Heidi Hammel is a noted planetary scientist. Currently, she is senior research scientist and codirector of research at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and the University of Hawaii, she spent nearly nine years as a principal research scientist in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT.
Nobel laureate John Mather’s research in cosmology as part of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) team has been recognized as some of the most important work of the 20th century.
Miles O'Brien is a 26-year broadcast news veteran with a lifelong passion for aviation, space and technology. In February 2003, he led CNN’s acclaimed coverage of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and was on the air live for 16 solid hours. Only days before (and after years of negotiations) CNN and NASA had reached an agreement that would have made O’Brien the first journalist to fly to on the space shuttle to visit the International Space Station.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He is the author of several books and hosts the NOVA ScienceNow program on PBS.
