JWST @ NYC, and art mysteries solved!

• By Amber Straughn
• August 27, 2010
• 7 Comments

I’ve lived in Maryland almost two years, just a short train ride away from New York City, and only recently ventured up to the Big Apple. It was for the World Science Festival, where I was volunteering at the full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope. The full-scale model has been on a world tour, including not only NYC but also Ireland, Germany, Orlando, Seattle, and closer to home in DC and right here at Goddard:

Telling people about how big the Webb telescope is is one thing, but seeing for yourself is quite another!

(taken with my iPhone! :))

In addition to all the fun-ness associated with the World Science Festival, I also got to spend about half a day sightseeing in NYC. I saw (but avoided the long line *up*) the Empire State Building. I also walked by Ground Zero (quite an emotional experience; I never saw the Twin Towers standing).

Empire State Building

Ground Zero

Probably the most enjoyable part the day was the few hours I spent in the Met. They had an incredible Picasso exhibit, who has always been one of my favorite artists. There is also an impressive Van Gogh collection there, though I was sad to realize my mistake of thinking that Starry Night lived in this museum (it’s actually at the Museum of Modern Art).

Although it always seems silly to take pictures of pictures, I couldn’t resist in a couple of places…

One of the things I love about astronomy (and travel; getting to see cool stuff like this in conjunction with my astronomy work) is it’s cross-discipline appeal. For example, I saw a presentation a few years ago from an astronomer who, along with a group of students, set out to find the location/dates, etc., of some of Van Gogh’s (and others) works. You can read about their discovery here. Very cool stuff!!

This same astronomer from Texas State also discovered, via astronomical means, the original date of Ansel Adam’s ‘Autumn Moon’. They then calculated when that scene would occur again, and re-photographed it.

From the next huge space telescope to art created long ago, astronomy has such a unique ability to inspire, and I’m so happy to study the universe as my job!