By this time, most people have seen the photos from the James Webb telescope. Unveiled by US President Joe Biden earlier this week, NASA’s telescope has been years in the making and an engineering marvel. What is perhaps most exciting, this is only the beginning of what we will see. As Jonathan Lunine, an astrobiologist at Cornell explained, “This is definitely the hors d’oeuvres, and the main course will be coming out over the months and years ahead.”
So what could that main course be? Researchers will use these images to measure the universe’s expansion rate, study the first galaxies to assemble and examine what exoplanets are made of (exoplanets are planets that orbit stars in other solar systems). Researchers will also be able to take a closer look at planets outside our solar system and observe molecules, ices and minerals – meaning they will be able to tell if Earth-like planets have enough water to have oceans and if they may be hospitable to life.
With such a massive scientific endeavour, perhaps the best answer is we don’t know what we will discover. But it lays the groundwork for the next step in understanding our universe. But for now, we can sit back and enjoy the stunning images that will be shared from the telescope.
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