CU Professor James Green has experienced a front-row seat in the assembly, deployment, and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and witnessed the deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has enough fuel for another 20 years, assuming it’s not overtaken by micrometeorites. In fact, thanks to 19 years of upgrades and repairs to the Hubble, and in spite of hundreds of potential failures during the deployment of the James Webb, both observatories are producing excellent science and are predicted to continue to operate for many more years, sharing with the world astounding images of the universe.
Join us as Professor Green explains what we’ve learned so far from these technological advancements in space science, with a focus on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope that was designed and built in Boulder by the University of Colorado and Ball Aerospace.
Professor Green received his B.S. in Physics from Stanford University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. He has spent his career designing and building instrumentation for space astronomy applications, and analyzing data from such instruments. He was the Principal Investigator for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which was the final instrument installed in the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009. He also designed and built the spectrograph for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), which launched in 1999.
He has developed several instruments for launch on sub-orbital rockets, and has personally participated in 20 rocket launches as Principal Investigator or project scientist. Professor Green has served as Director of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, the Chair of the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, co-chair of the WFIRST science and technology definition team, and as a member of the NASA Advisory Council Science Committee. His science interests include observational cosmology, the local interstellar medium, and theoretical studies of the earliest moments of the universe.
Members free; guests over age 16 – $10 p.p.
Note: we’ll be meeting 30 minutes earlier than usual at 6 p.m. to accommodate restaurant staffing.
Mandatory gratuity for our group: 25%
Due to three instances of “dine and dash” last month, attendees will be asked to pay for their meals upon ordering.