JWST looks out into the universe in wavelengths that our eyes cannot see. It is an infrared telescope, looking at the heat coming off some of the oldest and most distant objects in the universe, as well as the infrared radiation from neighbouring planets and nearby regions of star formation. The telescope is huge – its mirror is 18 hexagonal segments with an overall diameter of 6.5 meters. As well, its instruments must be kept very cold, approximately -230 C, for them to see the oldest and most distant objects in the universe. To protect its instruments from the heat of the sun, there is a sun shield that consists of 5 thin layers and is approximately the size of a tennis court. It had to be perfectly folded to fit in the rocket for launch, and then needed to unfold itself after launch in space. The side of the sunshield that faces the sun heats up to approximately 85 C, whereas the side with the instruments on the cold side of the sunshield is roughly -230 C!
JWST was a multi-country mission, requiring the expertise of NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. Importantly, the Canadian Space Agency contributed one instrument with two necessary components to JWST: the Fine Guidance Sensor and NIRISS.
The Fine Guidance Sensor is the component that allows JWST to stay perfectly pointed at exactly the place it is supposed to look. Without this guidance sensor, JWST would not be able to be still while pointing in a location – all of the stars and objects in the image would be blurred from movement!
NIRISS is an acronym for the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph. This instrument allows scientists to take images in infrared wavelengths and its special purpose is to split the light from all objects in an image into tiny rainbows of light – spectra. The full spectrum of light of an object allows us to learn about the chemical elements that make up the objects we’re viewing. For example, if JWST is peering into the atmosphere of an exoplanet, we would study the atmosphere’s spectra to learn what elements are in that atmosphere. Here on Earth, our atmosphere has oxygen that we breath – but those oxygen molecules in the air would react with other molecules in the atmosphere and be depleted if they weren’t frequently regenerated by plants and algae here on Earth. If we see oxygen in the atmospheres of distant planets, there might be life there! In the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-96 b – a hot gas giant like Jupiter, but very close to its host star – we can see the molecular fingerprint of water, so there are likely clouds in this planet’s atmosphere.
There are many Canadian scientists, researchers, and students carefully looking over new images and data from JWST, and there are new and beautiful images being shared frequently!
At Saint Mary’s University in Halifax Nova Scotia, Dr. Marcin Sawicki is part of a team of researchers carefully looking over the data from JWST. They have recently published an article1 about a galaxy that they call the “Sparkler” galaxy – a large, distant galaxy that we are seeing when the universe was only 4.5 billion years old, or about a third of its current age. Incredibly, they’ve found globular clusters around this galaxy – and these globular clusters look like small sparkles around the galaxy. In our own Milky Way Galaxy, we have roughly 150 globular clusters – clusters of hundreds of thousands of stars, tightly packed together like a ball of stars. These clusters are tricky to study because they’re very, very old objects – generally around 12-13 billion years old, and it is difficult to precisely measure their ages. When we are looking at globular clusters from when the universe was only 4.5 billion years old, it is much easier to estimate their specific ages because it is generally easier to be more precise about an age with a younger object.
In exchange for Canada’s important instruments, which cost roughly $200 million dollars for Canada to contribute (roughly 2% of the overall cost of JWST), Canadian researchers are guaranteed to have at least 5% of the total observing time on JWST’s instruments. There are many programs that Canadian scientists will lead and these are summarized on the Canadian Space Agency’s website.2
Given the incredible images that have already been produced with JWST and its expected operating lifetime of about 10 years (hopefully more3!), there will be much more wonder, inspiration, knowledge, and discoveries to come.
I encourage all readers to follow along with JWST’s journey and newly-released images, available to the public on the Webb Space Telescope website.4
References:
You can view and download the new booklet, and the three others in the series, by visiting our Resources page.
Have a writing project that you need to tackle and are having trouble getting started or building momentum? Then we have the perfect opportunity for you…a chance to win a FREE spot at an intimate writing retreat hosted by WISEatlantic at the tranquil Liscombe Lodge June 14-17, 2024!
Eligibility:
Contest is open to women academics (grad students, post docs, faculty) in STEM fields located in Atlantic Canada.
What’s Included:
How to Enter:
Email WISEatlantic@msvu.ca with the subject “writing retreat” and include your name, email, and a few sentences about why you are applying. Deadline to apply is April 17.
Please Note: Winners will be drawn at random and notified by May 12. Space is limited, by applying you agree to accept the spot in the retreat if offered. Travel to and from Liscombe Lodge is the responsibility of the participant.
The women featured were selected from a variety of fields to demonstrate the breadth of talent across diverse career paths; these include Impact Assessment Specialist Sara Rumbolt, Biologist Jennifer Sylliboy, Dietitian Janna MacKay, Civil Engineering Student Kalolin Prosper, and Botanist Cheyenne MacDonald. Each scientist discusses their career and educational path, the qualities and skills relevant to their job, the highlights of their career, and the impact their work has had on both themselves and the communities they work with.
The booklet also features additional resources for those looking to explore future career paths, including questions to ask yourself before deciding on a career, questions to ask a role model, and career competencies needed to be successful in whatever career you decide to pursue. Also included is a list of Indigenous opportunities to explore.
You can download the booklet by going to our Resources Page.
We are excited to announce the launch of the Indigenous-Black-International Science (IBIS) Student Assistantship program. This program enables Indigenous, Black and/or international Science students the opportunity to apply for paid assistantships to work with Science faculty at Mount Saint Vincent University on research projects. Both students and faculty need to apply to be part of the IBIS program. Contact Dr. Franz-Odendaal for more information, Tamara.franz-odendaal@msvu.ca
The monthly STEM club for girls is a volunteer-run organization that provides participants with the opportunity to explore various workplaces and careers with the help of female and gender non-conforming role models. To do so, chapters run events that encourage learning through hands-on activities and experiments, which often take place in the form of workplace visits. In compliance with public health guidelines and out of consideration for our participants, volunteers, and role models, CAGIS events have been held virtually for the past two years. As in-person gatherings become the norm once again, we are excited to bring our Chapter events back to a more familiar format. All CAGIS events will be back in-person for the upcoming year!
The Halifax Chapter is open to girls aged 10-16. Monthly events run from September to June (except December) and will expose participants to a variety of STEM careers and disciplines. Some anticipated topics of exploration for the upcoming year include astronomy, oceanography, psychology, and neuroscience.
To find out more about the Halifax CAGIS Chapter and to register, visit girlsinscience.ca/join/
The Chapter is also currently in need of volunteers to help run and plan monthly events. We are seeking Undergraduate and Graduate Science students from the area who are passionate about encouraging and inspiring young girls to pursue STEM. If interested, visit girlsinscience.ca/volunteer/
Outside of time spent watching the zebrafish grow, the girls engaged in numerous hands-on STEM activities that explored different disciplines; we put our engineering skills to the test with an earthquake-proof tower challenge, learned the basics of computer coding by using Turing Tumbles, and created our own light-up cards using simple circuits. Various sessions were also held by role models and partner organizations. Makers Making Change introduced soldering to our participants and gave them the chance to build their own piece of assistive technology; ICTC ran a session on cybersecurity; and Lockheed Martin provided the girls with the opportunity to try their hand at working with radio frequencies using computers. Furthermore, two sessions were run by members of the Mount community: an EEG session was run by members of Dr. Derek Fisher’s lab and a chemistry session was run by Chemistry and Physics lab instructor Alyssa Doué.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the hands-on activities, we also held a role model session where participants got the chance to sit down with various women in STEM and ask them questions related to their career and schooling. Some of this year’s role models included a mechanical engineer, a software developer, and a developmental biologist.
In 2020/2021 WISEatlantic granted Fundy Geological Museum a sponsorship to host the Paleontologist for a Weekend Camp. Twenty-one girls participated over the course of two camps in September, which gave participants the opportunity to explore what being a paleontologist is like. Some of the activities included a trip to the Fundy fossil research site, sieving for fossils, using digital microscopes, and preparing fossil casts. Providing campers with the chance to engage in every-day paleontology activities involved the combination of both art and science, in addition to encouraging critical thinking skills. Fundy Geological Museum intends on hosting the camps again in the future.
Diversity of Nature was another recipient of the Partnerships Program sponsorship. Funding went towards hosting two 3-day field camps that brought thirty participants in grades 10-12 together to engage in numerous workshops lead by female scientists. Some of the topics covered included mycology and plant diversity, taxonomic identification, microorganisms and microscopes, and plant pigments and extraction. Additionally, workshops were held on BIPOC leadership and environmental racism, and Indigenous ecological knowledge. Furthermore, Diversity of Nature reached a total of 544 youth from K-12 with a diverse array of STEM programming. More programming is expected in the new year!
If you’re looking for more information on the Network or any of the individual Chair programs, this is the place to go. You’ll also find resources created by the Network or Chair programs, upcoming events, important announcements and more!
You can visit the new site at: https://stem-inclusion-stim.ca/