The James Webb Space Telescope is the most eagerly awaited space observatory of the last two decades and will be the premier observatory for the next. The natural successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, but many times larger, it will observe the first starlight in the Universe; answer key questions on galaxy, star, and planet formation; probe the atmospheres of planets around distant stars in the search for the building blocks of life; and is set to revolutionise all areas of astronomy!

Prof. Tom Ray of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) is co-Principal Investigator for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), one of the four science instruments on Webb. DIAS has contributed to the design and fabrication of this instrument by producing special filters that are used to break up infrared light into its various components. In recent years DIAS has played a major role in understanding the instrument’s performance, and in providing specialised software, so as to produce science-ready data. Dr. Patrick Kavanagh from DIAS, who is a member of the international MIRI team, will participate in commissioning the instrument at the Webb Mission Operations Center in Baltimore.       

Launch of the Webb Telescope, on board an Ariane 5 rocket, is scheduled for late December 2021 from Kourou in French Guiana. The telescope was built as a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (of which Ireland is a member) and the Canadian Space Agency. Support for Ireland’s involvement came from Enterprise Ireland through the European Space Agency’s PRODEX Programme.