Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Webb Telescope and NASA's Next Really Big Thing,” with Ori Fox, deputy project scientist for the Roman Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating.]

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now a household name, having produced spectacular images of the most distant objects in our universe and revolutionized our understanding of what exists beyond our planet. Yet NASA is already far along in thinking about its next really big telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is expected to launch as early as Fall 2026. With Roman and Webb in the sky at the same time, astrophysics is expected to undergo another revolution.

Learn about the latest developments in both scientific undertakings from Ori Fox, who previously gave an excellent Profs and Pints talk on the Webb telescope, for which he served as an instrument scientist, and now plays a key role in the planning of the Roman telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Roman’s science and operations center.

He’ll discuss how the Roman space telescope will be able to survey the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble, as well as how it will collect near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic data with Hubble-quality resolution and sensitivity over fields of view 200 times greater than the Hubble’s. The Roman’s data will enrich all areas of astrophysics by enabling studies of nearly every class of astronomical object, phenomenon, and environment across the observable universe. The Roman’s scientific goals will include discovering thousands of new planets and pinpointing the source of a mysterious force called Dark Energy that permeates our Universe.

Dr. Fox also will give us a detailed update on tantalizing new images and scientific results from the Webb. They include the discovery of the most distant galaxies ever observed, high-resolution images of extraordinary explosions, and details about far-away exoplanets beyond our wildest imagination.

Listening to him will be a stellar experience. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A rendering of the planned Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.