Abstract

With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we are entering a new era in astronomy. At baseline, we will get Spitzer-like sensitivity on 10x more distant star forming regions, expanding our local understanding of star and planet formation to the bulk of the Milky Way galaxy. But what happens when we point the most sensitive and high resolution telescope at a nearby region? On behalf of the CORINOS team (PI: Dr. Yao-Lun Yang formerly of UT), I will showcase the first JWST observations of a protostar and its environs. This exciting dataset is still improving with new calibrations but already we have discovered never-before-seen features and species of ices. We can start to understand the formation of complex organic molecules, the regulation of accretion and outflow processes, and detect hidden circumstellar disks. Finally we consider what else can be done with JWST, and the efforts underway to improve data quality.