Joe DePasquale is the Senior Science Visuals Developer in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Prior to joining STScI in March of 2017, Joe was the Science Imager for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory where he worked for 16 years following his undergraduate training in Astronomy & Astrophysics at Villanova University. Joe has an extensive background in astronomy, as well as art and photography giving him a unique skill set well suited to the task of bringing raw observatory data to life in press quality imagery.

Translating Cosmic Light: The Hubble and Webb Perspective

At nearly 32 years in orbit, an entire generation of astronomers and space enthusiasts alike have always known the Hubble Space Telescope’s unique perspective on the cosmos. The story of Hubble is just as fascinating as the beautiful imagery and ground-breaking science that it continues to provide. After a brief overview of Hubble’s early days, and servicing missions, we’ll take a look at some of the observatory’s recent iconic imagery and discuss how it was made. We’ll also take some time to review the current status of the James Webb Space Telescope which was successfully launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and has continued to see outrageous success in every part of it’s commissioning phase working towards the beginning of science operations this summer.