Local researcher helps to create NASA’s newest eye in the sky

When the highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope launches into space from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Christmas Eve, it will mark an incredible achievement for a local university.

Expected to replace the Hubble Telescope as the premier space science observatory for the foreseeable future, the James Webb Space Telescope has been in development for nearly two decades with significant contributions largely from Saint Mary's University researcher Dr. Marcin Sawicki.

“Over the years, I helped in various aspects,” says the 15-year professor of the post-secondary school’s Astronomy and Physics department. As part of the science team behind the development of the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), Sawicki is credited as a key figure in providing guidance on the project.

“That’s the instrument that I’ve been involved with” states Sawicki, noting NIRISS has been developed to find distant galaxies formed early after the Big Bang by taking light from distant objects and splitting it into its constituent colours. That allows scientists to identify the distance to a particular object — in this case distant stars or galaxies.

“The problem is (that) it allows you to find the distance to an object (but) what you don’t have is the position of that object in the sky, where it is located,” adds Sawicki, who says he suggested to design NIRISS is such a way to search for spectra of light in different directions so that scientists could deduce an object’s location.

“X marks the spot,” adds Sawicki. “It’s where the two spectra intersect, that’s where the object is located in the sky so that not only allows us to find the distance to our object but also its location.”

In addition to his contribution to the development of NIRISS, Sawicki notes the Canadian-led team also guided the formation of the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), a piece of hardware that allows the space telescope to stay pointed in an accurate direction.

“Without this,” notes Sawicki, “Webb would drift off and its images would be fuzzy and so on.”

Having been involved with the project for nearly 20 years, Sawicki and Saint Mary’s University will be rewarded for their efforts — receiving unprecedented access to the James Webb Space Telescope for research purposes.

“You get some payback for the years that you spent on it,” laughs Sawicki. He adds Saint Mary’s has compiled a science team of four skilled post-doctoral researchers who will be guaranteed observing time with the telescope.

“They are, right now, getting ready for the data, they are preparing and writing analysis software tools and getting ready to hunt for the baby galaxies,” says Sawicki. “We’re punching above our weight at Saint Mary’s.”

Once launched into space, the James Webb Space Telescope will be the most dynamic space telescope ever constructed. Approximately a hundred times more powerful than its predecessor — the made-in-Canada Hubble Telescope — Webb will observe the most distant galaxies in the early universe which, Sawicki notes, will reveal invaluable information in the coming decade.

“Astrophysics and astronomy are about understanding our own origins — where do we come from,” says Sawicki, noting early galaxies can reveal deep connections to the creation of the Earth and our own existence. “So by looking at the very first galaxies that formed in the universe, we are looking at our own history, our own origins.”

A collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will commence at 8:20 a.m. AST on Dec. 24, with live coverage beginning at 7 a.m. Viewers will be able to watch it live on NASA’s website as well as on Facebook and YouTube.

“I’m excited about launch. This is going to be a dream come true — not just for me but for the team here at Saint Mary’s and for our colleagues around the world,” says Sawicki. “All Canadians should be proud of the huge engineering effort that went on in Canada to be part of this mission.”