Backward Look

There is a lot of talk about the Webb telescope. I have to admit, the design, the deployment, and eventually what it will discover, is fascinating. What I’m not sure about is, will the same people that are fascinated about it now be willing to accept what it might discover?

The light we see from the millions of visible stars started its journey to us many billions of years ago. What if some of those stars no longer exist? We are staring at and wishing on the remanence of something that died eons ago.

It’s possible that many of the planets orbiting stars once supported intelligent life that went extinct long before Earth cooled enough to generate anything resembling a living creature. What would these beings have done to preserve their species? Like humans, did they wait until their homeworld was past the point of no return before trying to change their fate, or did they act to save themselves?

When we stare back in time, will we be able to discover our future or our demise? Maybe we’ll glimpse our real ancestors or maybe the further back we go, there will only be blackness. In either scenario, the journey will be fascinating.