Too Late to Apologize! James Webb Telescope New study just made the "crisis in cosmology" WORSE...

[Sancho]

For years, astronomers debated the so-called “cosmology crisis,” especially the tension in how fast the universe is expanding. Now, Webb’s deep-field observations are adding fuel to the fire.
Instead of tidy, predictable early galaxies, Webb is revealing massive, surprisingly mature systems forming far earlier than standard models allow. These findings don’t just tweak the timeline—they pressure the very framework of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic evolution. If galaxies grew this big this fast, then something fundamental is missing from the equations.

The crisis in cosmology isn’t about one anomaly. It’s about pattern after pattern refusing to fit. The expansion rate disagrees depending on how you measure it. Early structures look too advanced. Simulations struggle to keep up with observation. The universe isn’t behaving the way the textbooks promised. So what happens next? Do physicists patch the model—or rethink it entirely? The answers unfolding now could redefine the story of space, time, and everything in between.

[QueerDuck]

1. That's how science works...

It’s only a "crisis" for the people who wrote the current textbooks... for everyone else, it’s a wide-open door to a Nobel Prize.

Personally, I think that this is the most exciting time to be in the field since the discovery of Dark Energy in the late 90s. As The European Space Agency points out, "crisis" in science is often the precursor to a paradigm shift.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out and what we learn in the process.

🎶 The more we know! 💫🌠

[niyad]

3. Well said.

[William Seger]

7. Exactly, "...the way the textbooks promised" sounds like something a pseudo-scientist would say

They have a special way of treating "mainstream" science (i.e. real science) as if it's a competing religion taught by false prophets, rather than just the most logical, but ever evolving, explanation we currently have for the credible facts, as best we know them.

[niyad]

2. KNR

[Girard442]

4. Be a heck of a thing if the Continuous Universe thing came back.

Don't listen to me. I know nothing.

[AZ8theist]

16. The eternal universe model never left.

It's just another hypothesis to explain the univese's existance.

[VMA131Marine]

29. Not happening...

The Cosmic Microwave Background is very real and is effectively the glow of the Universe from 380,000 years after the Big Bang. This is about reconciling the expansion rate of the early universe and the universe today with General Relativity.

[usonian]

30. I read Fred Hoyle early on.

The universe stubbornly refuses to conform to our sophisticated models. And dark matter? Give me a break.

How about the old fashioned way?

Observation first, theory later?

[Girard442]

31. His novel, "The Black Cloud" was quite entertaining.

[Igel]

44. That's fine, but "dark matter" is a kludge to explain ...

Observations.

MOND is pretty much killed (I rather like the idea, but the variants that model some observations utterly fail in other circumstances).

There are other options, but either they don't explain things as well or they explain them no better. But something's going on that we don't know, and calling it "dark matter" is no worse than the other options.

[usonian]

45. Dark Matter? I always looked upon that as a fudge factor.

Fred Hoyle proposed the "Continuous Creation" theory, which, at the time I read his book, seemed to be competing ONLY with the big bang, proposed by Monsignor Georges Lemaître, a priest, civil engineer and artillery officer.

I have big, big allergies to two of them in the service of science, though shooting at nazi's is commendable in a way (better not to let them get that powerful in the first place)

But those were the alternatives, and I went with Hoyle on this, the big bang being too close to religion, which has had a history of burning and .... oh well

[LearnedHand]

53. It's absolutely the only thing that makes sense

If there was something like a Big Bang, I’m betting it was a local evolutionary event.

[3Hotdogs]

5. DA FUCK? A crisis like this and there ain't nobody doin' nuthin' 'bout it?

[MiHale]

6. Everyone is distracted by the Epstein Files...🤪

[Layzeebeaver]

26. And the answer isn't even in the Trumpstein Files at all!

Now THAT'S a crisis if I've ever seen one!

[Marcuse]

8. Celebrate the evolution of cosmological crisis management.

[Historic NY]

11. He was right.

We are insignificant among the thousands of systems out there.

[edhopper]

9. Not really a crisis

just the continuing refining of what we know about the Universe. The main facts remain, the Big Bang, the expanding Universe, Dark Matter. But the numbers attached will change and shift as we learn more.
That the expansion rate is different depending how we measure it is a good thing that will lead to a better understanding.

[Wounded Bear]

15. Yeah, but putting the word "crisis" in the headline makes for more clicks...

[Layzeebeaver]

27. Cosmologists are obviously just "Crisis Actors"

Oh wait, or is it the pseudo-science reporters?

[Wounded Bear]

28. LOL...

[StarryNite]

10. For goodness sake, just ask AI

it has all the answers to everything.

[Clouds Passing]

12. Who'd have thought the universe is infinite and timeless

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Me!!!

[multigraincracker]

21. Infinite time and space is hard to comprehend.

No beginning and no end to either. That means it is all happening infinite times and places. When we get to the end of this universe now, it’s happening infinite times and place. No ends and no beginnings.
For some reason our brains can not handle this. Yet there is no other answer.

[John1956PA]

25. . . .

From "In the Year 2525" (1969) by Zager and Evans:

"Now it's been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday
In the year 2525 . . ."

[LymphocyteLover]

13. very cool! But does anyone know what that little cartoon image is, in the middle of the cover picture? It looks like a

distorted grand piano with a weird rock going through it.

[Wounded Bear]

18. That's the James Webb Telescope (JWT)...

[AZ8theist]

19. That's the James Webb Space Telescope.

[LymphocyteLover]

37. Thanks! I had no idea that's what it looked like

[AZ8theist]

42. You're welcome!

That's obviously an artists representation of the deployed telescope in space.
NASA has some cool photos on their website of some of the images it's captured.
This picture below was taken during preparation prior to launch. It gives a sense of scale on how big this thing is:

[LymphocyteLover]

43. wow, thanks! It's a very impressive device

[eppur_se_muova]

47. And that's the folded-up, "compact" configuration ! nt

[AZ8theist]

48. Exactly!

That's part of the design protocol of large modern satelittes. They have to be "compacted" in order to fit in the payload bay space of rockets in order to fly them out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space. There, they can "spread their wings" so to speak, and become functional to their specific purpose.

It's actually an incredible engineering feat to accomplish this. First, you have to design a probe to accomplish the scientific goal you are trying to achieve. Then, you have to build the machine. THEN, you have to design it so it folds up into a streamlined shape in order to launch.

THEN!!!

You have to give it the mobility, remotely, to unfold and start working as intended.

It's a testament to the scientists, engineers, and technicians involved with every one of these projects.
(..and I GUARANTEE there's not a flat Earther or moon-landing denier among them!!!!)

[eppur_se_muova]

49. How many missions have been jeopardized, or even ended prematurely, because a solar panel didn't unfold as designed ?

I remember when they had that problem with Skylab. They basically gave it a good shake, and it popped into place, IIRC.

[AZ8theist]

50. True

This was even more complex. The mirror array was folded in 3 sections and had to not only unfold into one mirror, but had to align correctly. The other critical assembly was the multiple sun shades needed to keep the whole thing shielded from the Sun.
It all came together perfectly. It really is a triumph of human ingenuity.

[eppur_se_muova]

46. My first thought was a Fazioli with a Grammy Award on top.

The Fazioli F304 is the largest model piano in the world, at over 10' long. The Grammy statuette is of course a 'gramophone' -- and the big steerable dish is reminiscent of that.

I did briefly wonder what all that had to do with a space telescope.

[patphil]

17. We haven't been around very long in terms of what we see as the age of the Cosmos.

We're essentially still children, making guesses at how things work at the Cosmic level. This "crisis" is just the next level of discovery. I expect it will happen even more frequently as we improve our technology, with no end in sight.

[LuvLoogie]

20. We are in a race between discovery and self-annihilation.

Does our sense of community outlast our violent greed?

[Pluvious]

33. As Albert Einstein famously said...

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity"
-Albert Einstein

[LymphocyteLover]

38. it has to!

[Ol Janx Spirit]

22. Compared to the Universe (13.8 billion years): Humans have been present for roughly 0.002%...

...of the time since the Big Bang.
https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/what-was-it-like-when-humans-first-arose-on-planet-earth-c8e2f108278d

If the entire history of the universe were compressed into a 24-hour day, human existence would occupy only the last few seconds before midnight.

Further, humans have only known about the Big Bang and Dark Matter for roughly 0.03% to 0.05% of our own existence.

The expectation that we would really come to terms with the actual universe through observations--keeping in mind that our observations comprise the same tiny sliver of the universe's existence as our own--and working out mathematical formulas is the real crisis.

It is the equivalent of a baby born one second ago thinking that it already knows where its mother came from.

[Bo Zarts]

23. To paraphrase John Prine:

"It is what it is,
and it ain't what it ain't."

[Farmer-Rick]

24. You have to appreciate real science

It's always correcting itself. Change and discovery are built into the model. Can't wait to see how these unexpected observations will change how we see the universe. I'm on the edge of my seat.

[usonian]

32. The science fiction writers were right.

A civilization, and I use the term loosely, survives by growing wiser, not necessarily smarter.

We use scientific discoveries first to kill each other faster.

Get along or go away. Poof!

If you can stomach it, read how "genius" Edison proved the superiority of DC over AC. Make sure you're strapped into your chair first.

Until people adopt higher principles 🪷, kiss this planet good bye.

I am ready with my towel.

[Pluvious]

34. Another astute observation...

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity"
-Albert Einstein

And that was his assessment MANY years ago !
Imagine what he would think today...

[usonian]

35. He regretted one thing.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240801-it-was-the-one-great-mistake-in-my-life-the-letter-from-einstein-that-ushered-in-the-age-of-the-atomic-bomb

On 2 August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote to the US President Franklin D Roosevelt. His letter would result in the Manhattan Project, and one of history's most significant – and destructive – inventions.

The dramatic account of the lethal harnessing of atomic power told in the 2023 blockbuster film Oppenheimer might have been nothing more than science fiction had a two-page letter, dated 2 August 1939, never been written.

"Recent work in nuclear physics made it probable that uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy," reads a typed letter to US President Franklin D Roosevelt signed by hand by the esteemed physicist Albert Einstein. (and Leo Szilard) This energy, he continues, could be used "for the construction of extremely powerful bombs".

And look who has become Shiva, destroyer of worlds, now.

[Pluvious]

36. Whoa...

Thank you for digging that up and sharing it

I had never seen that before before and did not know about it, I just knew he had something to do with the invention

I can see that this would likely have haunted him in his later years

[usonian]

40. Being interested in science from practically day one, I knew about this all along.

Several lessons have stuck with me.

1. People always say "Well, if we don't do it, "They" will."

2. The beneficial uses of technology and the harmful ones are CHOICES.

3. People choose poorly.

4. Technology is mostly directed by sociopaths.

5. I always wanted to use tech to make life better, but

6. All the great ideas I had ended up trying to undo what those sociopaths (4) did to us with their greed and perversion.

7. There was discussion about using the bomb on military or empty targets. Civilian targets were chosen, though arguably incendiary bombs used on ticky-tacky Japanese homes killed more people.

I know a guy who was an infant at the Hiroshima bombing. He is still alive and a living Buddha among men.

8. Eleanor Roosevelt was opposed to the internment of Japanese-Americans. Hubby chose poorly.

I just heard a local radio show honoring veterans, in which a man interned as a child later fought for the U.S. Army and described the horrors of the war. (recorded earlier)

9. War is hell. It's not fun and games.

10. Shitler must go before he destroys everything.

[Pluvious]

41. That's a powerful list, thanks for sharing (nt)

[NeoTrajan]

39. 'They're LYING TO YOU !'

'Science is in a panic!'

'Cosmology is in total collapse!'

'Astronomers are spiraling!!!'

For some reason, this reminds me of the new YouTube culture

And just one reason to dislike YouTube

[DBoon]

51. Everything You Know is Wrong!

Satirized long before Youtube

[OC375]

52. If you can't question it, it's not science

[Norrrm]

54. The more they look, the more we find that we do not know.

Theories keep changing, evolving, get broken.