James Webb Space Telescope scientist to speak at TJC

Published October 5, 2022

Dr. Scott Acton, a physicist and expert on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, in the Apache Rooms of Rogers Student Center, on the TJC main campus.

Tjc telescope
Dr. Scott Acton is reflected in the James Webb Space Telescope. “Several years ago, I climbed up a tower that was positioned very near the center of curvature of the primary mirror of Webb. A NASA photographer took this shot and gave it to me,” he said. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend. The event is held in partnership between the TJC science center and the TJC STEM Club.

During his lecture, Acton will share his expertise as the wavefront sensing and controls scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, including some of its more recent images of the depths of space.

At 7:30 p.m., he will be available for questions during a reception and star party at the TJC Earth and Space Science Center. Telescopes will be set up outside and a James Webb-related star talk will be presented in the center’s Hudnall Planetarium.

Acton

Dr. Scott Acton

Acton is currently a staff consultant at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., where he has worked for the past 20 years. He previously worked in the field of adaptive optics for the W.M. Keck Observatory in Waimea, Hawaii, and for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company.

He studied physics at Abilene Christian University, earned his Ph.D. in physics from Texas Tech, and served as a postdoc researcher at the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics in Germany. He resides in Colorado.