The transport of humans through history was accompanied by endless questions and answers, with more questions and answers. Science has been the best ally to come up with some answers regarding nature and the processes that occur in itChanging the way we perceive and understand it.
From the time when we thought we were the center of the universe, we moved on to the revolution embodied in Galileo and his telescopic observations, and later, those generations and generations of students of the universe, who, disappointed by their discoveries, put our planet like another, located in the outskirts of a humble galaxy.
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of the wood and leather telescopes built by Galileo in the early 17th century, To the James Webb Advanced Space Telescope (JWST), which includes gold among its construction materials and which moves us today with its first imagesMany things have changed. What has remained intact for more than four centuries, that is, 413 years exactly, is the ability not to cease to surprise us.
We know we are facing a new path full of discoveries and where the main hero will once again be an instrument that focuses beams of light. Galileo could not even in his wildest dreams imagine that the telescope would be four times the distance from the moon, pointing to the ends of the universe., with the ability to capture weak light that travels more than thirteen billion years ago, and this comes to us from the first things that exist and events that occurred in the universe. It is a journey back to our cosmic origins.
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The farther away an object is, the smaller it is when we notice it, because its light took the longer to reach our instruments. When the universe expands, as light travels, it “expands”; Astronomers call this redshift, which means that the size or wavelength of light increases. For this reason, it is easier to see distant objects in the infrared range, with wavelengths longer than those that are visible. If we are talking about observing the early universe, then we can say, paraphrasing The Little Prince, that what is fundamental is invisible to the eye.
JWST is designed to capture infrared radiation and, therefore, allows us to obtain information about the early moments of the universe, to take the most amazing journey into the past we have ever taken. Today we include in our cosmic album the image of our ancestors.
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Santiago Vargas
PhD in Astrophysics
Astronomical Observatory of the National University
