Op-Ed: The new photos taken by the James Webb Space Telescope allow us to experience wonder, which, like democracy, is in a pretty precarious place right now. (via latimesopinion)
. But if we spend some of our tax dollars to unlock secrets and vistas, that cost also keeps us rooted in the astonishment of the more-than-human. We learn for the sake of learning — which is, in fact, noble — and we gain more than knowledge published in peer-reviewed journals.
Facts establish. They can also deepen. The Webb will probe deeper into the origins of the big bang than ever before. It will help us understand the placement and motions of galaxies so we can grasp the evolution of the universe. If that’s too abstract, it also will scan alien worlds for signs that the conditions for life as we know it exist elsewhere. It might even find that life.
The wonder that we feel looking at these new images can be more than a moment of eye-candy. It provides, if we let it, the peace of cosmic things, a way to connect through beauty and understanding. When our eyes meet the universe we are lifted out of ourselves like a breath, and, then breathing back in, we can be renewed for what comes next.
Christopher Cokinos is a poet and writer living in Salt Lake City. He writes frequently for Astronomy.com and is working on a book about the moon.
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