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Space Telescope Science Institute 2022 Annual Report

Featured Articles

Letter from the Interim Director
Dr. Nancy Levenson marks the beginning of Webb’s operations, Hubble’s ongoing discoveries, Roman’s milestones, and underlines how our staff continues to support the astronomical community.

All In
A behind-the-scenes account of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year.

The Future Is Here
Throughout its first year in space, the James Webb Space Telescope exceeded expectations.

At the Helm
Hear firsthand from engineers who send commands to Webb from our Mission Operations Center, and staff who work to calibrate and archive its data. 

Designing and Scheduling Telescope Observations
Dive deeply into Hubble and Webb’s operations, learning how their observations are planned and carried out by engineering teams.

­Hubble, the Reliable Explorer
The telescope continued to release highly prized observations in 2022.

Preparing for Panoramic Views
STScI ramps up community engagement with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and continues to make progress building software for the mission.

Accelerating Research and Collaboration
Our staff helped researchers tackle machine learning, released Webb’s first data, and celebrated 25 years of our astronomical archive.

Targeting Terrestrial Planets
A future flagship telescope will directly benefit from the ongoing work in STScI’s Russell B. Makidon Optics Laboratory.

In the News
For the first time, STScI served as the news office for two operating NASA flagship missions.

Enriching Research
Our staff published peer-reviewed papers on a wide range of astronomical discoveries and engineering achievements during a very busy year.

Multi-Sensory Astronomy Experiences
Our public engagement staff created products that make astronomy more accessible through touch and sound.

Making Intentional Choices
STScI’s Diversity Officer Sharon Gatling explains how STScI is paving the way for a stronger, more collaborative workplace.

By the Numbers
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope are in high demand by the worldwide scientific community.

Meet Our Staff
Tania Anderson connects with kids and interns alike to expand what it means to be a STEM professional, and Timothy Rhue II regularly seeks new ways to engage a vast range of learners, whether it’s online or in person.

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Annual Reports

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  1. Letter from the Interim Director

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Dr. Nancy Levenson marks the beginning of Webb’s operations, Hubble’s ongoing discoveries, Roman’s milestones, and underlines how our staff continues to support the astronomical community.

    Head-and-shoulders portrait of STScI’s Interim Director Nancy Levenson, a white woman with short brown hair and blue eyes, who is smiling at the camera. She is dressed in a formal black jacket and scoop neck top. The background is a portion of Webb’s composite image of the Pillars of Creation, a region of gas and dust. A peak appears at left and gray areas stretch from center toward the top right. The background has several bright yellow-and-green stars with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes to the top left, near her eyes, and at bottom right, near her shoulder.

  2. All In

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    A behind-the-scenes account of the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year.

    Thousands of small galaxies appear across this view of SMACS 0723 from the James Webb Space Telescope. Their colors vary. Some are shades of orange, while others are white. Most appear as fuzzy ovals, but a few have distinct spiral arms. In front of the galaxies are several foreground stars. Most appear blue, and the bright stars have diffraction spikes, forming an eight-pointed star shape. There are also many thin, long, orange arcs that curve around the center of the image.

  3. The Future Is Here

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Throughout its first year in space, the James Webb Space Telescope exceeded expectations.

    Image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The largest star appears larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys, an appearance similar to a mountain range.

  4. At the Helm

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Hear firsthand from engineers who send commands to Webb from our Mission Operations Center, and staff who work to calibrate and archive its data.

    Phillip Johnson, a Black man in a black polo, sits at the Operational Controller desk in Webb’s Mission Operations Center with his hand on the computer mouse. The top two monitors show lines of green data over small black windows, and the bottom two show white operating systems against a blue background. There’s a coffee cup and glasses sitting in front of him.

  7. Preparing for Panoramic Views

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    STScI ramps up community engagement with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and continues to make progress building software for the mission.

    18 boxes, broken into six columns of three, which represent Roman’s field of view, are overlaid on a field of galaxies. The two outermost columns are closer to the bottom of the image than the middle two columns, which are slightly lower than the center two columns. Below the centermost columns is a label that says, “Roman field of view.”

  8. Accelerating Research and Collaboration

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Our staff helped researchers tackle machine learning, released Webb’s first data, and celebrated 25 years of our astronomical archive.

    A group of five galaxies that appear close to each other in the sky: two in the middle, one toward the top, one to the upper left, and one toward the bottom. Four of the five appear to be touching. One is somewhat separated. In the image, the galaxies are large relative to the hundreds of much smaller (more distant) galaxies in the background. All five galaxies have bright white cores. Each has a slightly different size, shape, structure, and coloring. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies are number of foreground stars with diffraction spikes: bright white points, each with eight bright lines radiating out from the center.

  9. Targeting Terrestrial Planets

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    A future flagship telescope will directly benefit from the ongoing work in STScI’s Russell B. Makidon Optics Laboratory.

    Five people stand in white suits and blue face masks behind instruments on a table. The most prominent instrument is a large, segmented mirror just right of center, which appears to capture part of the photographer’s face.

  10. In the News

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    For the first time, STScI served as the news office for two operating NASA flagship missions.

    Galaxy pair Arp 143 contains distorted star-forming spiral galaxy NGC 2445 (right) with lots of young bright blue stars and several pink star-forming regions. The less flashy companion galaxy NGC 2444 (left) glows soft yellow with a wispy distorted loop.

  11. Enriching Research

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Our staff published peer-reviewed papers on a wide range of astronomical discoveries and engineering achievements during a very busy year.

    A portion of Webb’s view of the Tarantula Nebula serves as the background. The tan-colored nebula has rust-colored highlights and one bright yellow star stands out toward the bottom left. Staff publication titles are overlaid in white text: A Self-Consistent Model for Brown Dwarf Populations; The Early Afterglow of GRB 190829A; Modeling and Performance Analysis of the LUVOIR Coronagraph Instrument; Observations of a Magellanic Corona; Interstellar Planetesimals: Potential Seeds for Planet Formation?; Best Practices for Data Publication in the Astronomical Literature; A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant; The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-Oriented Open-Source Project; Sonification and Sound Design for Astronomy Research, Education, and Public Engagement; High-Precision Redshifts for Type Ia Supernovae with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope; Gender Disparity in Publishing Six Months After the KITP Workshop Probes of Transport in Stars; The Baltimore Oriole’s Nest: Cool Winds from the Inner and Outer Parts of a Star-Forming Galaxy; Target-of-Opportunity Observations of Gravitational-Wave Events with Vera C. Rubin Observatory; The JWST Early Release Science Program for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems.

  12. Multi-Sensory Astronomy Experiences

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    Our public engagement staff created products that make astronomy more accessible through touch and sound.

    At left is the Washington Monument, a white marble obelisk, against a blue sky. At right are white open event tents set along a stone path. People dressed in shorts and t-shirts are both walking the path and stopping at the various tents to talk to people staffing those stations.

  13. Making Intentional Choices

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    STScI’s Diversity Officer Sharron Gatling explains how STScI is paving the way for a stronger, more collaborative workplace.

    Illustration shows five people standing roughly in a circle and pointing toward the stars in the night sky. The background is in shades of blue. A dark blue cityscape appears at left, but transitions at right into wavy shapes that look like hills. The cartoonish people appear to be standing on a lighter blue hill in the foreground. They are in a mix of clothing colors, including blues, oranges, and yellows, but are all in more formal workwear, like button-up shirts with ties. One woman with a pony tail appears in a knee-length skirt. They have various skin tones, including two people with light tan skin and three people with darker brown skin. The five stars at the top reflect different six-point spike patterns.

  14. By the Numbers

    2022 ANNUAL REPORT ARTICLE

    NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope are in high demand by the worldwide scientific community.

    By the Numbers