The James Webb telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021, captured this image of thousands of galaxies, allowing us to see further into the cosmos than ever before.
IMAGE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The universe is unimaginably big. And it is getting bigger. Earth is merely a speck in an enormous sea of celestial bodies.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, astronomers thought the universe consisted only of our own galaxy. However, advances in technology allowed astronomers to peer into the darkest regions of the universe and unravel some of its most mysterious puzzles.
Christian and Jewish astronomers with deep biblical convictions were part of a global coalition of scientists who used advances in telescopes to study the sky in greater and greater detail, producing the first detailed maps of the stars. Their work not only revealed the true scale of the universe but also provided evidence that supported Georges Lemaître’s theory of its beginning.
In this photograph, Sisters of the Holy Child Mary catalog stars’ positions in the sky by studying glass plates under a microscope and analyzing the stars’ brightness and positions.
Courtesy Vatican Observatory
In the nineteenth century, Vatican astronomers were part of a global coalition of observatories that produced the first photographic atlas of the stars.
The development of photographic plates in the 1800s allowed astronomers to map and measure the stars with more precision than ever before. These computations were often done by women “computers,” such as the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary.
Henrietta Leavitt worked at Harvard Observatory for nearly thirty years. As a woman, she was barred from pursuing theoretical work on Cepheid variables as that line of questioning was done by men.
WorldPhotos / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1895, around age 27, Henrietta Leavitt joined an underrecognized team of women “computers” at Harvard Observatory seeking to catalog the stars. Seventeen years later, she discovered that a special type of star, known as a Cepheid variable, pulsed with a frequency related to its brightness.
These became known as “standard candles” and allowed astronomers to accurately measure their distance from Earth. Edwin Hubble later used Leavitt’s discovery in his research, yielding evidence that our universe is expanding, which corroborated Lemaître’s theory.
Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias (right) stand on the platform that supports the Holmdel Horn Antenna, the instrument that detected Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in the 1960s.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1978, Jewish astronomer and physicist Arno Penzias shared the Nobel Prize for discovering cosmic microwave background radiation. The radiation was precisely what we should observe if the universe began as a hot fireball that expanded and cooled, confirming Lemaître’s theory of a cosmic beginning.
Penzias later said in an interview that, “the best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five Books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.”
In this photograph, Sisters of the Holy Child Mary catalog stars’ positions in the sky by studying glass plates under a microscope and analyzing the stars’ brightness and positions.
Courtesy Vatican Observatory
In the nineteenth century, Vatican astronomers were part of a global coalition of observatories that produced the first photographic atlas of the stars.
The development of photographic plates in the 1800s allowed astronomers to map and measure the stars with more precision than ever before. These computations were often done by women “computers,” such as the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary.
Henrietta Leavitt worked at Harvard Observatory for nearly thirty years. As a woman, she was barred from pursuing theoretical work on Cepheid variables as that line of questioning was done by men.
WorldPhotos / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1895, around age 27, Henrietta Leavitt joined an underrecognized team of women “computers” at Harvard Observatory seeking to catalog the stars. Seventeen years later, she discovered that a special type of star, known as a Cepheid variable, pulsed with a frequency related to its brightness.
These became known as “standard candles” and allowed astronomers to accurately measure their distance from Earth. Edwin Hubble later used Leavitt’s discovery in his research, yielding evidence that our universe is expanding, which corroborated Lemaître’s theory.
Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias (right) stand on the platform that supports the Holmdel Horn Antenna, the instrument that detected Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in the 1960s.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1978, Jewish astronomer and physicist Arno Penzias shared the Nobel Prize for discovering cosmic microwave background radiation. The radiation was precisely what we should observe if the universe began as a hot fireball that expanded and cooled, confirming Lemaître’s theory of a cosmic beginning.
Penzias later said in an interview that, “the best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five Books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.”
In this photograph, Sisters of the Holy Child Mary catalog stars’ positions in the sky by studying glass plates under a microscope and analyzing the stars’ brightness and positions.
Courtesy Vatican Observatory
In the nineteenth century, Vatican astronomers were part of a global coalition of observatories that produced the first photographic atlas of the stars.
The development of photographic plates in the 1800s allowed astronomers to map and measure the stars with more precision than ever before. These computations were often done by women “computers,” such as the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary.
Henrietta Leavitt worked at Harvard Observatory for nearly thirty years. As a woman, she was barred from pursuing theoretical work on Cepheid variables as that line of questioning was done by men.
WorldPhotos / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1895, around age 27, Henrietta Leavitt joined an underrecognized team of women “computers” at Harvard Observatory seeking to catalog the stars. Seventeen years later, she discovered that a special type of star, known as a Cepheid variable, pulsed with a frequency related to its brightness.
These became known as “standard candles” and allowed astronomers to accurately measure their distance from Earth. Edwin Hubble later used Leavitt’s discovery in his research, yielding evidence that our universe is expanding, which corroborated Lemaître’s theory.
Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias (right) stand on the platform that supports the Holmdel Horn Antenna, the instrument that detected Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in the 1960s.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
In 1978, Jewish astronomer and physicist Arno Penzias shared the Nobel Prize for discovering cosmic microwave background radiation. The radiation was precisely what we should observe if the universe began as a hot fireball that expanded and cooled, confirming Lemaître’s theory of a cosmic beginning.
Penzias later said in an interview that, “the best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five Books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.”
