The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The spectroscopy and H-band imaging of Virgo cluster galaxies (SHIVir) survey: data catalogue and kinematic profiles

The 'Spectroscopy and H-band Imaging of Virgo cluster galaxies' (SHIVir) survey is an optical and near-infrared survey which combines SDSS photometry, deep H-band photometry, and long-slit optical spectroscopy for 190 Virgo cluster galaxies covering all morphological types over the stellar mass range log (M∗/M·) = 7.8-11.5. We present the spectroscopic sample selection, data reduction, and analysis for this SHIVir sample. We have used and optimized the pPXF routine to extract stellar kinematics from our data. Ultimately, resolved kinematic profiles (rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles) are available for 133 SHIVir galaxies. A comprehensive data base of photometric and kinematic parameters for the SHIVir sample is presented with grizH magnitudes, effective surface brightnesses, effective and isophotal radii, rotational velocities, velocity dispersions, and stellar and dynamical masses. Parameter distributions highlight some bimodal distributions and possible sample biases. A qualitative study of resolved extended velocity dispersion profiles suggests a link between the so-called 'sigma-drop' kinematic profile and the presence of rings in lenticular S0 galaxies. Rising dispersion profiles are linked to early-type spirals or dwarf ellipticals for which a rotational component is significant, whereas peaked profiles are tied to featureless giant ellipticals

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 yr, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit