Webb Telescope Prepares to Ascend, With an Eye Toward Our Origins
The New York Times
The biggest space telescope in history aims to answer astronomy’s oldest question: How did we get from the Big Bang to here?
There are only a few times in the history of a species when it gains the know-how, the audacity and the tools to greatly advance the interrogation of its origins. Humanity is at such a moment, astronomers say.
According to the tale that they have been telling themselves (and the rest of us) for the last few decades, the first stars flickered on when the universe was about 100 million years old.
They burned hard and died fast in spectacular supernova explosions, dispelling the gloomy fog of gas left over from the primordial fireworks known as the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. From those sparks came all that we care about in the universe — the long, ongoing chain of cosmic evolution that has produced everything from galaxies and planets to microbes and us.
