Space3 min(s) read
Published 15:34 09 Apr 2026 GMT
You may have an interest in astronomy, but there's no two ways about it - it's a tricky topic to wrap your head around.
Luckily, there are scientists out there who can dumb the subject down enough for us regular joes to understand.
One of these brainiacs is Professor Brian Cox, and the British physicist and musician has explained one of the more chilling theories behind the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Ever since the advanced piece of technology was launched into space by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) back in 2021, it has produced some of the most detailed images of space that we've ever seen.
But apparently, JWST is doing more than taking high-definition snaps of celestial bodies - Professor Cox claims that the telescope is helping us 'travel through time'.
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The space tech has the potential to change how we think about the universe, having been launched 31 years after the legendary Hubble telescope.
It's already taken numerous clear images of galaxies, stars being formed, early stage black holes and more.
Acting as a more advanced version of its predecessor, JWST made a huge discovery back in 2023, when it confirmed that the universe is expanding at varying speeds, depending on where you look.
It was a problem in astronomy, but it is now known as Hubble tension, and it has caused waves in the cosmology world.
Initial measurements were made by Hubble in 2019, which have now been solidified, as Professor Cox explained how these telescopes are able to capture such details.
Light travels slowly in space, moving at just 300,000 kilometers per second, meaning things like sunlight takes eight minutes to reach our planet.
Essentially, the further in to space we look, the 'older' that light is, meaning that we're traveling through time to see light from millions or billions of years ago.
He spoke more about the revolutionary telescope, saying: "The Webb looks so far out that it's capturing light that's been travelling for over 13 billion years but the universe has been expanding and so the light has been stretching.
"And so for the most distant galaxies we're looking back back in time almost to the Big Bang."
Professor Cox said it could be instrumental in helping us understand more about the beginning of our universe, adding: "The Webb can see the formation of the first galaxies.
"It's essentially looking all the way back, very close to the beginning of time. And that's very important."
He also admitted that experts aren't 100 percent certain on how the first galaxies were formed.
"So we can see that. It is microwaves. Because it's been stretched so much by the expansion of the universe," the professor added.
Cox explained that the universe was so hot and dense in its early stages that "light couldn't travel through it. It was opaque."
He said that while we can't use light to go back further, he alluded to technology being used to "detect colliding black holes" potentially being used to "probe back" to the Big Bang.
