We’re still searching for answers to the question of whether humans are alone in this universe. With the recent images published by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it’s difficult to accept that we are alone even with the absence of evidence to support life existing elsewhere.

NASA’s James Webb Telescope captured new, high-definition images of distant galaxies. The agency’s Twitter account started the tease on Monday evening with a snapshot of a cluster of galaxies.

Under the image, the agency wrote: “Webb’s image is approximately a grain of sand held at arm’s length, a tiny sliver of the vast universe… Webb’s image is approximately 4.6 billion years ago, with many more galaxies in front of and behind the cluster. Much more about this cluster will be revealed as researchers begin digging into Webb’s data.

“Light from galaxies took billions of years to reach us. We are looking back in time to within a billion years after the big bang when viewing the youngest galaxies in this field,” NASA explained.

Launched in December 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most powerful telescope, costing some US$10 billion. Named after James E. Webb, NASA’s administrator from 1961 to 1968, the telescope’s deep space mission is a collaboration among the European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and NASA.

Webb was head of NASA during the ‘Project Mercury’ which investigated man’s ability to function in space, the ‘Gemini Program’ which was the precursor to the famous mission to the moon, and lastly, the ‘Apollo Program’ which put the first man on the moon.

Billions of dollars are spent annually on space programmes around the world to help humanity understand our own existence and the cosmic environment we exist in, from a scientific standpoint. With every image we capture, with every galaxy sighted, it somehow feels that we move further and further from an actual answer as the universe rapidly expands at a rate faster than our exploration.

Added to that, we come closer to the reality that even the language used to define and describe the world, galaxy, universe and all its processes is inadequate when considering how limiting the human understanding of space and time is. We might not have even invented the correct words, concepts, and theories as yet.

The Guardian quotes NASA’s Deputy Senior Project Scientist, Jonathan Gardner as saying, “Webb can see backwards in time just after the big bang by looking for galaxies that are so far away, the light has taken many billions of years to get from those galaxies to ourselves.”

Webb might not answer all of our burning questions, but it proves one thing immediately, and that’s the power of human ingenuity, our collective ability to think through, invest and test innovations that solve big problems.

For copyright reasons, this newspaper may not, now, carry images from NASA from the Webb telescope, which were unveiled by US President Joe Biden. All are encouraged, however, to visit NASA’s website for a look into how much this universe exists beyond the boundaries of our very imagination.