New Webb image of the Carina Nebula revealing emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars previously obscured
Another Big Bang?
We’ve all heard of the Big Bang Theory. One of the goals of the new James Webb Telescope is to reveal what happened after the Big Bang. Why do we need to understand the Big Bang? And how will the Webb telescope help us understand the secrets of the origins of the universe—and of life itself?
July’s first-ever James Webb Telescope images, released just a couple of weeks ago, showed sharper-than-ever scenes of extremely distant objects—some distorted into lines and arcs by the warping of space created by invisibly distant massive objects.
Goal of the New Webb Telescope
The goal of the Webb Telescope is to ultimately see the earliest stars and galaxies being formed once the universe became transparent 279,000 years after the Big Bang.
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To be clear, the Webb is NOT studying the period before the Big Bang. We already know from satellite heat maps that the universe before the Big Bang was simply smooth with almost no differences in temperature. But what happened right afterwards? We don’t know when the very first stars lit the cosmos after the Big Bang nor how the first galaxies and other celestial objects formed.
What is the Big Bang?
There’s sometimes confusion about the Big Bang Theory, so let’s take a step back. The universe exploded into the cosmos about 13.8 billion years ago. The universe was small, dense, and hot until an explosion ballooned our universe outwards faster than the speed of light. We know from satellites that the “Big Bang” wasn’t like a firecracker exploding in the center of the universe (there is no center of the universe), but that it happened everywhere at once. We know this because we can see that heat uniformly fills the universe.
Before the “Big Bang,” the universe was a fog and light could not travel freely. After its initial expansion and after the universe cooled sufficiently, photons (bits of light) flew everywhere while continuously being stretched out—reddened and cooled further—by the expansion of space.
So, now we live in a matter-filled cosmos, where we see an amazingly uniform glow of microwave-frequency light evenly coming at us from the entire sky, after having radiated from everywhere with amazing consistency.
But those small ripples that our satellites can detect—in places just 1/50,000 of a degree hotter or cooler than everything else—were the seeds where clumps of atoms form today’s stars, galaxies, and planets.
Webb image of galaxy group “Stephan’s Quintet” shows in rare detail how galaxies interact with each other and captures detail of an active black hole at the heart of the topmost galaxy.
So the next milestone would be actually seeing those objects forming, and the James Webb can do the job.
But There’s a Problem.
What if the universe isn’t quite what we assumed? We attached the idea of “birth” to the expansion because everything we know about has a “birth” date—from Hostess Cupcakes to postage stamps. We know of nothing that’s “birthless,” unless you actually believe that Werner Heisenberg and his Quantum Theory buddies may have been right and there are things like awareness that are eternal.
But think about it: The Big Bang isn’t actually about the beginning of EVERYTHING. It’s about the transition from a small, dense, hot universe into the humongous expansion of the universe as we know it today. The Big Bang is an important event, but it doesn’t tell us how energy, time, and space were caused.
→ How far is the most distant object in the universe? Read on.
If the universe is eternal with no beginning (nor end), the Big Bang could still have happened. Given the flat overall topology of space discovered by Berkeley researchers in 2012, the Big Bang could merely be a local event in the ‘hood, which means that somewhere deep within the non-observable, most-distant cosmos lurk other Big Bangs.
Perhaps that may be where that long-sought “other Earth” might be located. Way out—so far out we’ll never possibly see it.
What the Webb Will Teach Us
For now, the Webb telescope can help us learn when and how the first stars after the Big Bang formed. These are the chemical elements of life! As we learn more about what happened at the beginning, we’ll learn more about how Earth came to support life and where our very atoms came from. Stay tuned for more wonders of the universe.
Now read my post on, “Where in Space Are We Headed?
Bob Berman
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And I thought science could explain it.
It can.
In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. Then GOD said, let there be light: and there was light. And GOD saw that the light was good, and GOD separated the light from the darkness. And GOD called the Light Day, and the darkness He called Night. Do the evening and the morning were the first day. Again GOD said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let them it separate the waters from the waters. Then GOD made the firmament, and separated the waters, which were under the firmament, from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And GOD called the firmament, Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. GOD said again, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let dry land appear: and it was so. And GOD called the dry land Earth, and He called the gathering together of the waters Seas: and GOD saw that it was good. Then GOD said, Let the earth bud forth the bud of the herb, that seeders seed, the fruitful tree, which beareth fruit according to his kind, which hath his seed in itself upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth the bud of the herb, that seedeth seed according to his kind, also the tree that beareth fruit, which hath his seed in itself according to his kind: and GOD saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. And GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN, to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. GOD then made TWO GREAT LIGHTS: the greater to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: HE ALSO MADE THE STARS. AND GOD SET THEM IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN, to shine upon the earth, and to rule in the day, and in the night, and to separate the light from the darkness: and GOD saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Afterward GOD said, let the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing that hath life: and let the fowl fly upon the earth in the open firmament of the heaven. Then GOD CREATED the great whales, and everything living and moving, which the waters brought forth in abundance according to their kind, and every feathered fowl according to his kind: and GOD saw that it was good. Then GOD blessed them, saying, Bring forth fruit and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Moreover GOD said, Let the earth bring forth the living thing according to his kind, cattle, and that which creepeth, and the beast of the earth according to his kind, and it was so. And GOD made the beast of the earth according to his kind, and the cattle according to his kind, and every creeping thing of the earth according to his kind: and GOD saw that it was good. Furthermore GOD said, LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR IMAGE ACCORDING TO OUR LIKENESS, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth and moveth on the earth. This GOD CREATED THE MAN IN HIS IMAGE; in the image of GOD HE CREATED HIM: he created them male AND FEMALE. And GOD blessed them, and GOD said to them, Bring forth fruit, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every beast that moveth upon the sun. And GOD said, Behold, I have given unto you every herb bearing seed, which is upon all the earth, and every green tree, wherein is the fruit of a tree bearing seed: tgat shall be food to you for meat. Likewise to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heaven, and to everything that moveth upon the earth, which hath life in itself, every green herb shall be for meat, and it was so. AND GOD SAW ALL THAT HE HAD MADE, and lo, IT WAS VERY GOOD. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1
This is the truth of how this earth was created. You believe BY FAITH one way or the other. The Inspired Word by The Holy Spirit to faithful men or a written thought by a fallible, sinful man. But that GOD that created you gives you the choice to choose. I hope today that you choose to believe the truth of God’s Word because Jesus is returning soon and one day we ALL will bow the knee before a Holy, Righteous, and Just God. And at that time it will be too late. If you reject His truth here on earth, which He has written on every persons heart, He will reject you and you will spend eternity in hell. Repent, turn from your sin, trust that Jesus is the One and Only precious Son of God that died a horrible death on a cross to save wretched sinners like you and me! He is our only Salvation! He is our only hope! Believe in Him.
Amen sister!!!!
In the beginning God…..
God created the heavens and the earth.
There is a creator. Agreed, In the beginning…
I believe the Bible is the only source to understand what happened and how it happened. All other theories have big problems and don't add up. Everything is created by God in 6 days and it's only approximately 6000 years ago. Nothing is getting better by itself, that you can see evening you are not a scientist.
I agree. Jehovah the almighty God created the earth and everything else in it. Genesis 1:1-31.
Read the Bible. You’ll learn everything about how the Earth came to be.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. BANG!
That's right!!!
