The Webb Telescope and God’s Evolving Universe

This Christmas, astronomers got a very special present: the long-awaited engineering marvel that is the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), finally launched! Over the last month, it has traveled nearly one million miles from Earth while unfolding its massive mirror and tennis-court sized sunshield in what has been described as “the most difficult and complex deployment sequence ever attempted in space.” The transforming telescope is now in position and will spend the next few months aligning its mirrors in preparation for its real work to begin. The astronomical community is on the edge of its seat waiting to see what the first images will reveal this summer.

Webb is intended to be the successor to the beloved Hubble Space Telescope, which has been delivering spectacular images of swirling galaxies, stellar nurseries and remnants of supernova explosions for over 30 years. Webb will take up Hubble’s mantle for a new generation, capturing the universe with unparalleled resolution in the infrared, a slightly longer wavelength of light than the visible light Hubble captures. The list of targets it will observe in its first year alone covers everything from planets, moons and asteroids in our own solar system to massive clusters of ancient galaxies and everything in between.

Descriptions of evolution typically begin about 4.5 billion years ago on early Earth with the first simple organisms. But, as any astronomer will be quick to point out, the story of life began long before then. Before there could be life on Earth, the planet itself needed to be formed, accreting together the necessary materials from the nascent Sun’s surrounding dust and gas. And before that, the heavy elements that make up our planet—oxygen, carbon, iron, and more—had to be built up through fusion in the cores of earlier generations of stars and their subsequent deaths as supernovae. And even further back, these early stars were formed in galaxies defined by lumps of dark matter in the early universe. Back and back the story goes, all the way to the unknowable moment of the Big Bang. In a sense, the universe has been evolving for 13.8 billion years.

Webb will reveal new insights into this cosmic evolution. Close to home, its gaze will be directed on ancient asteroids like Ceres and Pallas, which carry clues about the Solar System’s formation. Spectral analysis of Comet 88P will help us understand the role that icy, dusty comets may have played in delivering the necessary raw materials for life to Earth.