One of the largest budget science programs ever, the James Webb Infrared Space Telescope mission was launched on December 25, 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has reached the last Lagrangian point between the Sun and Earth L2, which is about one and a half million kilometers from Earth, In one month, and after several months of operation and calibration, on Monday over one year began the first phase of its scientific program. NASA released the first images of the Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday.
Over a year and a half ago, the research community submitted more than 1,170 telescope time bids for the first Webb Space Telescope scientific measurement period, which will take place between the summer of 2022 and the end of 2023. A quarter of the bids submitted had a measurement time, among the winning bid materials, you can find Created programs led by Szeged and collaboration, this has put Szeged University at the forefront of Europe.
Hungarian astronomers in the fore
The elite researchers who won telescope time in the first round included Hungarian astronomers, including Tamas Salai, a member of the astrophysics research group at the SZTE TTIK Institute of Physics, who will be able to use data from the Webb Space Telescope as a leader in a common theme in one and as a contributor to three Other winning apps.
Researcher Szeged and his colleagues will, among other things, seek to answer the question of whether supernova explosions that end the lives of massive stars and release massive energy are “cosmic dust factories.” Cosmic dust particles are a very important factor in many astrophysical processes, including molecular formation and planetary formation.
As co-leader of Program 2666, during the investigation and measurements, we build on the sensitivity of the Webb Space Telescope in the infrared range, which can provide a suitable opportunity for investigation, especially for post-blast operations.
– said Tamás Szalai, assistant professor in the Department of Experimental Physics at the Institute of Physics at SZTE.
Main research question
One of the central questions in the investigations is how long and how much dust particles form after starbursts – or perhaps even before – and whether this dust could be the raw material for planets that formed later in the surrounding young star systems.
Two researchers who also graduated from Szeged, András Gáspár and Dániel Apai, are also co-leaders of the winning bids and contributors; Both are currently on the faculty at the University of Arizona.
(MTI)
(Cover Photo: James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on November 2, 2016. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)