Weekly Space Hangout - Focusing JWST with Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Manager

https://youtu.be/0pEmQ1zpKtI Host: Fraser Cain ( @fcain )Special Guest: Since JWST launched in December, 2021, we have been holding our collective breath as it made its way to its final home at the L2 Lagrange point. Throughout its approximate month-long journey, JWST systematically worked through a complicated series of deployment and commissioning procedures, including the all-critical focusing and alignment of the telescope's 18 primary mirror segments using 132 different actuator motors. On April 29, 2022, it was announced that focusing and alignment had completed successfully. Tonight, we are joined by Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Element (OTE) Manager for JWST, who will tell us what this exacting process truly entailed.   Lee Feinberg is the NASA Optical Telescope Element (OTE) Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a role he has been in since 2002. Earlier in his career, Lee was the Assistant Chief for Technology in the Instrument Systems and Technology Division at Goddard and prior to that Lee was part of the optical team that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope on SM1, STIS instrument manager on SM-2, and he co-led the concept study for Wide Field Camera-3.   Lee was a member of the LUVOIR and Habex Science and Technology Definition Teams and focuses his current research on ultra-stable telescopes and segmented space telescopes. Lee is a Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Fellow and a Goddard Space Flight Center Senior Fellow.   To learn more about Lee, visit his NASA webpage https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/meetThe... as well as this featured Conversations With Goddard interview https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/...   Lee explains the process of Webb's early alignment: https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=10875... Seeing the Light | Lee Feinberg | TEDxUniversityofRochester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWbd4... Interview on Your Space Journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEMWV...   Finally, be sure to follow Lee on Twitter: https://twitter.com/leefeinberg1 Regular Guests: Dr. Leah Jenks ( https://leahjenks.com/ / @leahgjenks ) Dave Dickinson ( http://astroguyz.com/ & @Astroguyz ) Pam Hoffman ( http://spacer.pamhoffman.com/ & http://everydayspacer.com/ & @EverydaySpacer ) This week's stories: - An impact crater on the Moon. - The damage by space tourism on the ozone layer. - What to see in the sky this summer. - A fast nova! - A super-Jupiter found in Gaia Data Release 3!   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].