The Quest for Cosmic Dawn: First Results from the James Webb Space Telescope
The first billion years after the Big Bang can be regarded as the final observational frontier in assembling a coherent picture of cosmic history.
During this period early galaxies formed and the universe was bathed in starlight for the first time. The recent successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope raises the exciting prospect that we may be able to direct witness the first galaxies emerging from darkness, an event sometimes termed “Cosmic Dawn”? I will review the progress astronomers have made over the past decade with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes in concert with large ground-based observatories in Chile and Hawaii, and present the first results now emerging from the James Webb Space Telescope. Since we are, ourselves, made of material synthesised in stars, the quest for Cosmic Dawn can be regarded as the search for own origins in this remarkable universe.
Richard Ellis is Professor of Astrophysics at University College London. Ellis obtained his PhD at Oxford University.
As a young researcher he established a major astronomy group at Durham University and later became the Director of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. He then emigrated to the California Institute of Technology where he became Director of the Palomar and Caltech Optical Observatories. Ellis’ research interests span the distribution of dark matter, the history of the cosmic expansion and studies of the first galaxies seen when the Universe was less than 5% of its present age. His awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Australian Academy of Science and was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2008 for his contributions to international science.
Richard’s book, When GalaxiesWere Born, available from November 8th and published by Princeton University press, will be available to buy on the evening.
