Our speaker will be attending in person, please try to attend in person too!
Agenda:
7:00 - 7:15 General Meeting & Announcements
7:15 - 7:30 Short topic presentation by a club member
7:30 - 7:45 Refreshment break
7:45 - Public Presentation
Speaker: Jared Cathey
Title:
The James Webb Space Telescope and Gravitational Lensing
Abstract:
Since the recent launch of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), many of the discoveries utilizing JWST data have been pushing the boundaries of different fields of astronomy. Probing the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum JWST is well suited for research ranging from star and planet formation to finding and characterizing the oldest galaxies ever observed. The first science data to come down from the telescope went to groups known as Early Release Science (ERS) programs. These were competitively selected to have high impact discoveries on their respective fields. One such program, TEMPLATES, studies some of the brightest gravitationally lensed galaxies known, allowing the study of spatially resolved star formation in these early galaxies around the peak of cosmic star formation. One of the first steps in these studies is reconstructing what these gravitationally lensed galaxies looked like prior to distortion, allowing us to map the original system as accurately as we can.
About the Speaker:
Jared got his B.Sc. From Texas A&M University in 2021 studying physics and astrophysics. While there he worked under Jen Marshall studying near-field cosmology. Coming to the University of Florida the following term, he has worked under Anthony Gonzalez with a focus on galaxy evolution and gravitational lensing.
Research Interests:
Jared works as part of the JWST ERS program Targeting Extremely Magnified Panchromatic Lensed Arcs and Their Extended Star formation (TEMPLATES). Within the group he leads the data reduction process for the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), one of the four primary science instruments onboard JWST. Scientifically he has been leading work on reconstructing these gravitationally lensed sources targeted by TEMPLATES. Jared’s general interests lay at the intersection of observational and theoretical astronomy. Primarily in galactic evolution and formation, with particular interest in high-redshift lensed galaxies and the reconstruction of those galaxies.
