Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Speaker : Prof. Michael Meyer (University of Michigan)
Date : 27th May 2025
Title : Origins of Stars, Planets, and Life: Early Science with JWST
Abstract : Over 20 years ago, the instrument teams for the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST) outlined comprehensive science programs to answer
to key questions concerning the origins of stars and planets, with
implications as well for the origin of life. Deep observations of pre-
and protostellar molecular cloud cores reveal the initial conditions of
star formation, the composition of star- and planet-forming gas and
dust, the first compact objects that form from collapse, and feedback
from star formation which may contribute to self-regulation.
Observations of brown dwarfs in young clusters and in the field, reveal
multiplicity, atmospheric structure, and composition of these enigmatic
objects that represent either the low mass end of the initial mass
function or the high mass limit of planet formation. Imaging and
spectroscopy of planet-forming circumstellar disks reveal how
interstellar ingredients are transmuted into the building blocks of
planets and the emergence of forming proto-planets in these disks.
Observations of mature gas giants and brown dwarf companions as a
function of host star mass, orbital separation, and mass ratio may
reveal how the complex processes of planet formation determine their
composition and help regulate the delivery of volatiles to potentially
habitable planets. The speaker will describe the power of JWST compared
to complementary facilities, review relevant results from the first year
of JWST science operations, and provide some hint of future exciting
results to come.