Some days I honestly wonder if we humans ever do anything right. Every day, it seems, we get hit with another reminder of how good we are at messing up. We're great at starting wars, but we can't figure out how to end poverty. Great at building machines that kill or pollute, but clueless at how to build peaceful societies or save our planet from the damage we've done. For most of us, it's all we can do just to get through the day with all the burdens and worries on our shoulders. You only need to watch the news or talk to your neighbors to see how much we're all struggling these days.
But once in a while something comes along to remind us that as foolish and shortsighted as are, we're also capable of accomplishing the most amazing things. We really are.
These days the internet has been full of incredible images. They were just transmitted to Earth ten days ago from the James Webb telescope, a new telescope we sent a million miles out into space. Suddenly news stations all around the world are broadcasting images of stars and clouds of cosmic dust and giant galaxies glowing in the darkness like creatures from the depths of the sea. They're absolutely stunning. Right now, this instant, we're seeing much deeper into space than we've ever seen before.
Just looking at those images gives me hope for us. Yes, some days we can't even seem to figure out how to cross a street without tripping over our own feet or starting another war - but then there's this. Look what we can do when we try. It's pretty incredible.
It's the most complex, powerful telescope we've ever created. It took twenty-six years to build. It's been the life's work of a team of top scientists from around the world, and it took dogged persistence and brilliant vision for it to ever come to be.
It had to be light, yet strong enough to survive the bitter cold of space. It had to be as large as a football field, but able to fold up to fit into the cone of a rocket. Every possible problem or error needed to be anticipated before it left the Earth, since it would be too far away to ever send humans to fixif anything went wrong. And so much could go wrong: when it finally reached its home, orbiting with us around the sun, it would take 344 separate steps to unfold it and bring it into into being. If any one of those steps failed, the project was doomed.
Then there were the delays. The cost overruns. Skeptical government oversight and repeated attempts to scuttle the project.
Oh, and did I mention the pandemic?
The sheer perseverance and bravado of it takes the breath away.
It was launched on Christmas Day, 2021,with many of the crew quarantined and watching from home. Once the launch was safely over, the nerve-wracking days of setting it up began: carefully, step by step, remotely triggering it to unfold it piece by piece. Finally there came the crucial step, focusing each of the eighteen mirrors to point at one small spot in space. After twenty-six years of work, in under an hour the telescope sprang into focus. And in that instant, our vision leaped forward.
Looking on wavelengths our human eyes can't even see, suddenly we can see farther into space than we've ever seen before. We're looking back in time; the furthest galaxies in those images are not as they are now, but as they were over 13 billion years ago.
It is, they say, one of our greatest achievements in all history.
Already it's sending us pictures that will be studied for years, full of information and brimming with detail; nurseries of stars being born, black holes, galaxies colliding and pulling at each other and rotating around one another - breathtaking images of unearthly beauty. There are no words to describe these things; we can only stare wide-eyed in wonder.
Back here on Earth, there are some who say, why? Why bother? Yes, these are lovely, but when we're caught in such struggles down here, why look up? Why spend our time and money on some telescope far out in space, when we're struggling to keep our own planet alive?
I sympathize with them, but I also think that we need this right now. With all the challenges we're struggling with day to day and all the tragedies happening in our world, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. But now, in our worst moments, comes a powerful testament to the amazing things we humans are capable of.
I know it's hard, and we're struggling so. But take heart. If we can do this, just think what we can do here at home when we put all of our vision and dogged determination to the task ahead of us.
So let's take a few minutes to take a good, long look at those galaxies shimmering on your screen, the reminder of just how much we can be. Then let's all turn back to our little corner of the universe with a new measure of hope and courage.
We can do this.
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