NASA astrophysicist Amber Straughn will give a talk about the search for Earth-like exoplanets to launch the 2017 season of Family Astronomy Nights at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Friday, July 14. The Museum is located at Pier 86 (West 46th Street & 12th Avenue) in Manhattan, New York.
Straughn is also the deputy project scientist for the Webb telescope science communications team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She will discuss NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the next-generation space telescope that will tell us more about the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and perhaps even find the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe. In addition to other planetary systems, the telescope will also study objects within our own solar system.
The evening will take place inside the Space Shuttle Pavilion, home of the space shuttle Enterprise, NASA’s original orbiter. Visitors can also view the night sky with telescopes on the flight deck with local astronomers, and enjoy activities provided by the Intrepid Museum’s Education Department. Family Astronomy Night is free and open to all ages.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most advanced space observatory. This engineering marvel is designed to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, from discovering the first stars and galaxies that formed after the big bang to studying the atmospheres of planets around other stars. It is a joint project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
The Webb telescope will also be featured during the Intrepid’s Space & Science Festival on Aug. 1 through 6. That will include a week of talks, films, special guests from NASA and cutting-edge displays. The event will also feature astronauts and NASA technology.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is a non-profit, educational institution featuring the legendary aircraft carrier Intrepid, the space shuttle Enterprise, the world’s fastest jets and a guided missile submarine. Through exhibitions, educational programming and the foremost collection of technologically groundbreaking aircraft and vessels, visitors of all ages and abilities are taken on an interactive journey through history to learn about American innovation and bravery.
The Intrepid Museum was founded in 1982 with the acquisition of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, now a National Historic Landmark, which served tours of duty in World War II and the Vietnam War, and was a recovery vessel for the Gemini and Mercury space missions.
For more information about the James Webb Space Telescope, visit: jwst.nasa.gov or
www.nasa.gov/webb
For more information about the Intrepid Museum, visit:
https://www.intrepidmuseum.org
Banner Image: In this photo from April 2015, NASA technicians lifted the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane and moved it inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Credit: NASA/Desiree Stover
Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
301-286-4044
Ashley Allen, Public Relations Director
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York, NY
aallen@intrepidmuseum.org
646-381-5292