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 News You Can Use

By David Bachelor, PhD

This week the eyes of Texas (and the whole world) are upon NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Making the headlines is a discovery from a University of Texas researcher that may change science’s understanding of the universe.

Across the pond, the Independent on April 17th had the headline, “James Webb Space Telescope Keeps Finding Galaxies that Shouldn’t Exist, Scientist Warns.” The scientist is University of Texas Professor Boylan-Kolchin. His paper on these newly discovered improbable galaxies looks at data scientists have collected using the dark energy and cold dark matter paradigm (ACDM). The ACDM paradigm has been cosmology’s guiding principle for over a generation. “It [ACDM] suggests that, if scientists have not made a mistake, we may be missing some fundamental information about the universe.”

On the same day, the Daily Mail article on the UT study had the headline, “The Galaxies that Shouldn’t EXIST: Experts Are Baffled as NASA’s $10bn James Webb Telescope Discovers Six Super-Sized Star Clusters that Are too Big for Their Age.” According to the UT research, for these star clusters to contain the number of stars the JWST has revealed, these galaxies must have converted “nearly 100 percent of their available gas into stars.” The researcher notes the usual gas-to-star conversion rate is ten percent, and therefore, “This means that the ΛCDM model, which has been relied upon by cosmologists since the late 1990s, may not be totally correct.”

Cornell University had their own team of researchers looking at JWST data. The April 17th headline in the science news site SciTechDaily was, “Galactic Surprise: James Webb Space Telescope Unveils Hidden Companion Galaxy.”  The researchers noted this new galaxy “… surprisingly seems to have already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its young age, estimated at 1.4 billion years old.” Scientists used to think it took 8 billion years and many births and deaths of stars for a galaxy to accumulate the elements already present in this formerly occluded galaxy.

In the Bible, Job is known for his patience, not his understanding of the universe. The book that bears his name contains an encounter when God had to set this patient prophet straight. God said to Job, “”Who do you think you are to disagree with my plans? You do not know what you are talking about” (Job 38:2). Then God pointed out to Job all the things Job did not know. God used the motions of the stars to emphasize his point. God asked Job, “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? (Job 38:31-33). Job said to God, “I spoke about things I didn’t completely understand. I talked about things that were too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3).

The headlines this week have revealed not only new galaxies but also that God works all things together for good for those who love him (Rom 8:28). The James Webb telescope was intended to bring humanity more information about the origins of the universe. From God’s perspective, if this telescope makes more scientists say, “We may be missing some fundamental information about the universe,” the JWST might just lead them to the Truth about the universe.