On July 12, 2022, NASA released the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, our lens into the deepest visible regions of space. Fred R. Barnard, who coined the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”, was never able to consider the massive scale of the universe as he lived during the time before Pluto’s discovery. Needless to say, the expression requires a long overdo upgrade to appropriately address these new astronomical insights.
While awe inspiring and aesthetically pleasing, the revelation of these images marks a milestone in astronomical observation, and a marker of significance to what our civilization has achieved within the past century. Despite all the difficulties and challenges humankind faces in the present, the fact that we are diving deeper into the Cosmos and harnessing our greatest minds and ideas to pursue this ambition speaks volumes to what our civilization is capable of.
Perhaps Humanity is destined to conquer the stars. If we are able to look past our differences, and work together to achieve the impossible, the bounds of our civilization could extend for eternity. And these images are a testament to that. The first in what we all hope is a series of awe inspiring images, James Webb has proven now with photo evidence the immense prowess our species possesses.