The Rebirth Of Wonder: Reflections on the James Webb Telescope’s First Imagery
Like many citizens of the world I was left in sheer blissful awe of the first pictures from the James Webb Telescope. How could you not be? It’s not everyday that you’re faced with the sheer power of the cosmos. The images were shared across social media (the image above has over 117K retweets on the official NASA post) and countless friends and family shared them with me. As a “space guy” I was thrilled - this is an incredible image - but in the days since the Universe’s grand reboot in popular culture I’ve found myself wondering - what are we talking about when we say this photo is amazing? Why are we sharing it?
Don’t get me wrong - I’m impressed by the sheer power of engineering involved in getting to this point (check out the New Yorker’s incredible piece on the telescope from last year) - but I’ve also seen amazing engineering feats in my lifetime (including some incredible rocket launches and landings). I’m mesmerized by the visuals here - the kaleidoscope of colors - the incredible detail in every corner, yet killer astronomy photos are not new to me (I’m a power user on Astronomy Picture of the Day) and while this one is the most killer - I’ve seen it’s kind before. You see - when I see this photo and I suspect when many people see this photo it triggers a deep sense of wonder within us.
Wonder is a funny word. When we think of it as a noun we think of “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.” As a verb it can be “to desire or be curious to know something” and it can also mean to “feel doubt” All of those definitions are applicable here. This photo is surely something amazing, we’ve covered that already. And surely the photo sparks all types of thoughts, mainly of course being “where are the aliens at?” but the doubt part of the image also rumbles within my soul. All this is out there (and this is only a TINY TINY TINY piece of the universe) and no one has contacted us yet? Are we in a simulation? How do I matter in the scope of this? You can get lost in a real black hole of existential anxiety after this. I mean this really is staring into the abyss/void - right?
Wrong (at least for me). When I see this photo I see God’s Majesty. I mean how can you not. This photo is just the next chapter search for meaning, truth, the ultimate, whatever you want to call it. I choose to say the G word because that’s how I identify it but you can call it whatever you want. After all we can follow the history but scientists don’t know what existed before the big bang! Perhaps we’ll find the answer through this telescope and CERN or perhaps we never will. Either way I know I know we’re going to continue to look to the heavens to help define us as a species. We’ve been looking to the sky for meaning since the dawn of civilizations. A huge chunk of constellations and planets are named after Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern mythology. Some of the best films, books, TV shows and more have to deal with us searching for truth in the cosmos and I hope this photo is inspiring a whole generation of artists to consider the infinite possibility of the heavens.
For some reason, though, I feel like we’re afraid to acknowledge this wonder - the deep feelings of this image and it kind of bums me out. We should be able to talk openly about how this photo makes us feel - In ways both comforting and terrifying. I’m not trying to dismiss the science here at all, for it is true and majestic - I’m only saying that by refusing to acknowledge the mystical and wondrous power of space we miss the opportunity to have it guide us. It’s there, it’s above us, it’s around us - and it’s beautiful.