John Mather spent decades making the James Webb Space Telescope a reality. Here's what he thinks could come next.
What takes over 20,000 engineers and hundreds of scientists to build? A space telescope — specifically, the James Webb Space Telescope.
Thankfully, the effort was well worthwhile, with a plethora of incredible results from NASA's newest observatory in its first six months of science operations. But what comes next? John Mather, a Nobel-winning astronomer and a leading force behind the , shared his visions of what all those engineers and scientists may tackle next on Thursday , the final day of the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society held in Seattle and virtually. 's launch in 1990, when the first ideas for the Next Generation Space Telescope were thrown around in the 1980s.
Some goals are closer than others, and there are so many out there swirling in the minds of astronomers."I cannot possibly tell you all the wonderful things that are coming, so I'll tell you the ones that interest me the most," Mather said. There are a number of exciting new observatories coming online in the coming months and years, including the European mission
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