JMU astrophysicist can discuss first photos from Webb Telescope

Harrisonburg, Virginia — The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, which NASA plans to release on July 12 are expected to be dazzling and to refocus attention on the $10 billion space observatory launched on Christmas Day 2021. 

Among those anxiously awaiting the photos is James Madison University physics professor Anca Constantin, who researches black holes. Constantin said the new telescope, stationed 1 million miles from earth, will provide much clearer images of deep space than the Hubble Telescope, the predecessor to the Webb Telescope. 

But Constantin says the JWST will do a lot more than just take photos. "While I expect the images themselves to be out of this world (literally!) it is going to be the spectroscopic data and the measurements that come from those sets that are going to take us where no one has ever been," she said. 

Constantin is available to discuss the telescope and its importance to astrophysicists. To schedule an interview, please contact Eric Gorton, media relations coordinator, at gortonej@jmu.edu or 540-908-1760. 

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Contact: Eric Gorton, gortonej@jmu.edu, 540-908-1760 

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