University marks coming launch of James Webb Space Telescope with Space Week

Southeast Missouri State University joined almost 500 sites across the country to celebrate the launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope this past week.

Southeast students and members of the community were invited to salute Space Week Nov. 8 through Saturday with astronomy events throughout Cape Girardeau.

According to the SEMO Space Week webpage, the James Webb Space Telescope is the "largest, most complex space science telescope ever built," and NASA's "next great space science observatory."

The week featured several guest speakers, including Southeast faculty member Margaret Hill, photographer Dennis Vollink, NASA expert Christopher Willmer and Southeast physics alumnus Stephanie Howard with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Planetary Magnetospheres lab.

Night Sky Viewings, where participants were able to look at the night sky through telescopes and try to find planets, were also held throughout the week in collaboration at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau on Nov. 8 and SEMO Sikeston Higher Ed Center on Tuesday.

Members of the community look through telescopes provided by the SEMO Mobil Astronomy Observatory on Saturday in the Magill Hall parking lot on SEMO's main campus during the Night Sky Viewing held as a part of SEMO Space Week.Brooke Holford

Saturday also included interactive booths on SEMO's main campus in Cape Girardeau, as well as a Night Sky Viewing with telescopes provided by the SEMO Mobil Astronomy Observatory in the Magill Hall parking lot.

Pamela Mills, head of the Space Week committee and a Southeast instructor, said in addition to getting people excited about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the committee hoped to help spark people's interest in astronomy overall with the celebration.

"Seeing students get excited about astronomy and also people from the community coming on campus to learn more about it has just been so neat," Mills said. "I do see an interest in astronomy growing, and that's really what we wanted was to grow some interest in astronomy, even beyond the James Webb telescope."

The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch Dec. 18 in collaboration with the European and Canadian space agencies.