10 Takeaways from Nasa's Webb Images of Galaxies for a Greenhorn

1.?????Telescopes give us access to ancient times, but the James Webb Space Telescope is special— it takes us back in time some 13 billion years (yes, you read that right) to a moment frozen in time to decipher the what, how, why and how-come questions about our origin.

2.?????The phrase, “Let there be light,” takes a much deeper meaning: Light is a cosmic carrier of information, the ultimate cosmic messenger.?We can tell the composition of the atmosphere of a planet billions of kilometres away by simply studying its light spectrum. Without any physical contact, scientists can tell whether, or not, a galaxy is moving towards, or away, from us by simply examining its light shift.

3.?????Because the universe is filled with dust and gas, we need infrared light whose wavelength bypasses pesky materials to see deep into the universe. This is what enables the Webb Space telescope to listen in on the conversations of the universe. Its predecessor— the Hubble telescope— largely captured images at visible and ultraviolet light (infrared is not visible to the naked eye).

4.?????The Webb images capture a region in the universe where stars are formed known as the “Cosmic Cliffs” which is estimated to be 7,600 light-years away from the earth.

5.?????A light-year is the distance light— light zips through interstellar space at 300,000km per second or 9.46 trillion km per year (9 x 10^12, km) — travels in one year. It took light travelling at 186,282 miles (300,000 km) per second a whopping 13 billion years to reach the Webb telescope.

6.?????What you're seeing in those images is a minuscule slice of the universe, equivalent to a grain of sand held at arm's length. In addition, each speck of light in those images is not a star; it represents thousands of galaxies within which billions of star systems are embedded, each with its own planets. It follows that— God forbid— the earth and humans are just a speck in a tiny and cold (miserable) corner of the universe!

7.?????So much of what we believe is based on some authority figure telling us that something is true. However, science isn't something that you “believe in”, and anything that is not a law of nature (laws, principles and facts) is a belief that cannot be independently verifiable. For example, money is a belief, so is a border. It follows that if you “believe” that the universe was created on October 23, 4004 BC (or 6,000 years ago), these images are probably worthless to you.

8.?????The scientific method is about testable hypothesis (theory) — a failed hypothesis is either rejected, or revised— to get to some relative truth before devising operational models to simplify complex phenomenon.

9.?????In other words, when science gazes through the unknown, it sees patterns and rules that comprise a language of order through math and physics. Religion gazes into unknown to find patterns that form the language of order through God and faith.

10.??Can I exhibit both spiritual and scientific thinking? Possibly, but you can't use the scientific method to disapprove the existence of a deity.

Subiri Obwogo is a medical doctor, specialist in public health medicine and independent consultant in health policy and systems strengthening. He’s also the author of two books and several publications.