Colloquium
The James Webb Space Telescope: a cosmic story for the ages

Abstract

On December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched from Earth towards its ultimate destination at the L2 Lagrange Point, 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. The culmination of decades of planning, construction, execution, and transport all came down to a critical few minutes, which led to our newest flagship observatory in space. Science operations began in July of 2022, with the past 2+ years bringing about a number of scientific revolutions: both expected, such as the discovery of a number of record-breaking galaxies and other cosmic objects, and unexpected, such as new features in star and planet-formation, and big surprises about the earliest supermassive black holes in our Universe. Come learn what we've discovered and how it's altered our cosmic perspective, and explore how the unheralded concept of "discovery potential" is essential for driving unexpected discoveries at the frontiers of science.