EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

March 2026 Virtual Meeting

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Monday, March 9, 2026
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Note: ETGS members will receive an email with info for logging into the meeting.
 

March Presentation

Unveiling the Hidden Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope: Developing and Operating the World’s Most Complex Telescope


By

Dr. Kirsten Larson, Space Telescope Science Institute

How do you launch, test, and 'fix' a telescope in Space? With years of careful planning and a bit of luck!

The new James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most complex space telescope ever launched. It took 20 years and an international collaboration of thousands of people across NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop and successfully launch. The Webb Telescope has four scientific instruments designed to explore the hidden universe through infrared light. The Webb Telescope has already provided cutting edge observations that delve into the mysteries of the first objects to form in the early universe, to the formation of stars and planetary systems and much more! Work with the Webb Telescope has just begun, but transformational science takes generational planning. So, of course we're already deep in preparations for the next Space telescope to come!.

Biography

Dr. Kirsten Larson is currently an Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD working with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Team on the James Webb Space Telescope. She assisted with the commission of the new instrument and is now the lead scientist of MIRI's Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS). As the lead of MRS, she is responsible for supporting science operations and continued calibrations of the instrument. Dr. Larson is an expert in star formation in nearby galaxies. She is particularly interested in understanding the lifecycle of star formation in both normal-type galaxies and extreme environments present in galaxy interactions and mergers.

 

 

Greetings, and welcome to the March 9, 2026 ETGS virtual meeting.
 

This meeting will be attended via Zoom and as a courtesy please mute your cell phone or the microphone in your laptop/tablet to minimize background noise and feedback echos. We will also make an effort to mute all participants - at least until the presentation is finished. Please use the chat feature to type any comments or questions you may have. We recommend that you send questions for the speaker to "everyone" so all participants can see the question. In the interest of time, we may hold the Q&A at the end of the presentation.

We will create a virtual attendance list. It is not always possible to tell who is participating on-line, especially for those joining by phone, so please email etgs@live.com to be listed on the attendance sheet. Let us know exactly how your name should appear on the list. We will add a note explaining the lack of signatures due to remote participation and have an ETGS officer sign as usual.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue with this online format. As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

 

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President
Tony McClain

Vice President
David Carlone

Secretary
J. Brad Stephenson

Treasurer
Seaira Stephenson

Webmaster/Social Media Coordinator
Bob Gelinas

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Page updated March 04, 2026