In 1994, the Hubble space telescope was pointed at a small, tiny square part of the dark sky, seemingly no more interesting than any other dark patch. The telescope collected light, photon after photon, and delivered the below image.
What we thought was an empty, inconsequential speck of the night sky, was teeming with millions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, and unknown stories waiting to be discovered. All this from just a small square patch of our night sky.
This image – the Hubble Deep Field image – opened our eyes (literally) to the vastness, the unfathomability of the cosmos.
Last week, something as momentous (if not more) happened in the field of astrophysics and astronomy. A telescope that is larger and far more capable of capturing more parts of the light spectrum has started peering into the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), after decades of development and many setbacks, launched on 25th December 2021.
It went on a fantastic voyage of 1.5million kms (!), reached L2 (the second Lagrange point), beating all odds and 300+ possible points of failure, unfolded itself into position on 24th Jan 2022. It will soon start ‘seeing back in time’ to learn more about an infant universe.
The scientific method has always been a rigorous process, but the best part is that it ‘builds standing on the shoulders of giants’. Centuries of scientific discoveries have made it possible for humanity to create something that can fly 1.5million kms, unfold itself like origami paper, and operate for the next two decades. It is a cross-continent collaboration (similar to the ISS) and these kinds of projects give me hope that we, as a species, can do amazing things for ourselves and for the planet. If we put our collective minds to it.
I can’t wait for the first images from JWST that will come in a few months!