Mark McCaughrean

After more than three decades of development, construction and testing, the James Webb Space Telescope began its long journey into orbit in December 2021. Since then, the razor-sharp images have led to new insights every day and changed astronomy in an unprecedented way. It's as if researchers suddenly had a whole new set of eyes: they now know what it actually looks like when a cosmic cloud collapses, have discovered a polar cap and rings around Uranus and have detected water vapor inside a comet. Never before have we been so close to unraveling the cosmos! Mark McCaughrean presents fascinating images of our universe and talks about the great astronomical discoveries of the last three years that have amazed even the scientists.

Mark McCaughrean was part of the James Webb Space Telescope working group. After completing his studies and doctorate in astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, he worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, at astronomical institutes in Tucson, Heidelberg, Bonn and Potsdam and as a professor at the University of Exeter before joining the European Space Agency (ESA) as a scientific advisor in 2009.

Language: English

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