Restoring Faith in Humanity

A Peek at Deep Space Somehow Sparks Dread and Hope

by Prajakta D.

It’s unlikely you missed the frenzy that took over the internet when the James Webb Telescope images were released by NASA. 

The mesmerizing smattering of galaxies captured by the telescope are strewn across a tiny slice of our universe; the bit of sky in the image is said to be the equivalent of the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s distance. 

The merry, swirling, celestial bodies are shining their lights on us from millennia in the past and are a glimpse at a much younger universe. 

The release of those images was a phenomenon (thanks, James Webb and the brainiacs behind that telescope for bringing us deep space in beautiful, 1080p.) The world could not shut up about them for a few days. Why, you ask? Maybe it’s because it was a brilliant leap in our understanding of the cosmos or maybe it was because it made us humans feel like teeny, tiny, insignificant megalomaniacs that are ruining the one viable home we have. Wow, those images really do spark both wonder and soul-searching in equal measure.

Or maybe, the zeitgeist aligned along the lines of: So, uh, how can I relocate to one of those galaxies?

Planet Earth has been a dumpster fire for the last few years (or should we say, decades? Centuries?) Climate change is literally burning up parts of the globe, a pandemic is seemingly never-ending. Capitalism still has its grubby Monopoly-man grip on us.