Dr. Jaymie Matthews (Probing the Universe with Canada's "Humble" Space Telescope") is an Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, and the Mission Scientist of the MOST Project for the Canadian Space Agency.

Size doesn't always matter. Although many of the great advances in modern astronomy are made with giant telescopes, Canada is preparing to forge a new frontier with the smallest space telescope ever. This "Humble Space Telescope" will be housed in a microsatellite, not much larger than a suitcase, to be launched next year. The instrument, actually called MOST (for "Microvariability & Oscillations of STars), is designed to probe into the cores of stars by measuring stellar surface vibrations with a sensitivity of a few micromagnitudes (a few parts per million) that no other telescope, including Hubble, can achieve.

How old is the Universe? What are planets like around other stars? What is the fate of our own Sun? These are big questions that UBC astrophysicist, Jaymie Matthews hopes to help answer with the tiny but powerful MOST microsat. MOST is also a new breed of space explorer - made possible by a mix of unique Canadian aerospace technology and pure science - which may change the paradigm of how research is done from orbit.