Editorial Desk :
Mankind has always looked at the universe with a sense of curiosity and awe since the time immemorial and has come a long way in exploring the universe that we live in. Even a century ago, many of the celestial objects remained for us a mystery. But man has put his feet on the surface of the Moon and walked on it. We now have fair knowledge of the geological surface of Mars.
With the advancement of study in physics, astrophysics to be precise, mankind’s perception about this universe is fast changing. The scientists are now certain that our universe is constantly expanding. Though the whole creation still remains an ‘unfathomable’ and ‘infinite’ thing, exploration of it is going on and we are getting thrilled by newer discoveries about our universe.
One such breathtaking experience came as the first batch of images of the early universe was released on Monday. The stunning images were taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of Nasa. The release of the images is indeed a ground-breaking and historic event in humanity’s search for unveiling the mysteries of the universe. Webb compiled the composite shot in 12.5 hours, achieving well beyond what its predecessor the Hubble Space Telescope could in weeks.
“Fantastic — galaxies upon galaxies upon galaxies,” this was the response of Jonathan Lunine, chair of the astronomy
department at Cornell University as he rejoiced, with the rest of the global astronomy community, at this discovery. The images are overflowing with thousands of galaxies and feature some of the faintest objects observed, colourized in blue, orange and white tones. While commenting on the recent image, Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said, “Every image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a view of the universe that we’ve never seen before.”
For us here in Bangladesh, the images of the universe bring an added source of pleasure when we come to know that one Lamiya Ashraf Mowla, a Bangladeshi born astrophysicist in the US, was also in the Webb telescope team. In Bangladesh, we have very little scope for scientific research due to our fund constraints as well as a general lack of interest in the field which is not desirable. But Lamiya’s presence in the Webb team again proves that Bangladeshis have talent. When they are outside the country and with opportunities for advanced levels of scientific research, their performance is at par with the global top level. We hope that in future, with funds and the right kind of initiatives, Bangladesh would be able to make fundamental discoveries in the realms of science also.
