13.8 billion years.
That’s how long we used to think the Universe has existed.
A shade under 14 billion years.
It always struck me as a bit short in the grand scheme of things.
Our previous telescopes hinted at a sprinkling of anomalous holes in the theory.
The latest, James Webb Space Telescope, can see so far back in time that it’s causing some pretty big reassessments of what happened at the dawn of time.
The galaxies we can see are too small, too far away, too perfect — and there are too many of them to fit our theory neatly.
We don’t yet know what to make of this new data.
Some people will try and fit this new data into the theory, keen to preserve their life’s work defending the current thesis to see that redefining it could be much greater work.
But just like our Science always has, the accepted theory will change.
And who knows what opportunities await us outside the safe and comfortable confines of our paradigm?
We must be open to finding out.
That is the heart of the Scientific Method.