James Webb Telescope images of the planet open up new horizons of the imagination – The Indian Express

For centuries, science fiction writers have taken findings and theories from the most cutting-edge research and used them to feed their flights of fancy. The clouds on Mars and its similarity to Earth, when seen through a telescope (as early as 1610, by Galileo), have led to speculation about everything from little green men to the John Carter series. Billionaires like Elon Musk continue to harbour (rather expensive) notions of colonising the Red Planet. And quantum theory has led to many multiverses. Even something as simple as the earliest seafarers seeking to pierce the horizon continues to form the emotional bedrock of the Star Trek franchise. With the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the limits of the horizon have been pushed exponentially.

Jupiter, children have been told for decades in their middle-school syllabus, is a gas giant. What the general public did not comprehend how could it was that in the swirling mass of storms on the planet (the largest of which could easily swallow up the Earth), encircled by hitherto invisible Saturn-like rings, there is beautiful, ferocious activity. Or, that the violent geological life is circumscribed by an almost heavenly halo. Looking at the stunning JWST images by NASA just weeks after it revealed the sound of a Black Hole there is no doubt that there will be enough fodder to feed the imagination for generations to come.

The JWST, like the Hubble telescope before it, is likely to enhance human understanding of the cosmos immeasurably. A horizon, of course, is a curious thing. It is simultaneously a challenge and a limit. It also tells us exactly what to aim for a theoretical meeting point in the distance. The immensity of what lies beyond can offer both hope and an escape. Thanks to the JWST, Jupiter is already calling.

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James Webb Telescope images of the planet open up new horizons of the imagination - The Indian Express