Most people are familiar with how a prism splits the light of the Sun into its component rainbow of colors. Research astronomers use instruments called spectrographs to split the light from celestial objects and measure its intensity at different wavelengths. These spectral observations can be used to determine temperature, composition, motion, and more. Imaging spectrographs extend the entire 2D view of an image into a third dimension of wavelength, and have greatly expanded the capacity to map the motions of gas and stars within galaxies. Dr. Law will present the history of this powerful type of instrument, highlight what it has taught us about the evolution of galaxies over the last 12 billion years, and discuss some of the exciting science that such instruments on board the James Webb Space Telescope are expected to deliver in the near future.
Speaker: David Law, Space Telescope Science Institute
Host: Dr. Frank Summers
Recorded live on April 4, 2017 from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, USA.
MORE INFO: http://hubblesite.org/about_us/public_talks/
STScI Webcast Links:
Frank Summers - News from the Universe:
https://webcast.stsci.edu/webcast/detail.xhtml?talkid=5583
David Law – 3D Spectroscopy and the Dynamics of Galaxies:
https://webcast.stsci.edu/webcast/detail.xhtml?talkid=5582