I previously wrote on the subject of the James Webb Telescope and the headlines claiming that recent discoveries call the Big Bang into question. (Is the Big Bang finally Over?) The Big Bang theory is a theory based upon the fact that we have an expanding universe, and the fact that we have an expanding universe suggests that it is expanding from a point in time. The Big Bang theory that the universe is expanding from a point of beginning some finite time ago is alive and well, but the standard model(s) developed to explain how the expansion we see is being called into question by the James Webb discoveries.

I didn’t go into technical detail about why the evidence for an expanding universe remains solid, mostly because I am not physicist, or even a “science guy”. I am interested in science and try to keep up with certain areas of science because they interest me, but I am not educated or trained in the sciences.

Today, however I heard an explanation for why the James Webb discoveries do not undermine the basic Big Bang principal, that the universe is expanding, that was simple and clear and worth repeating (if for no other reason than for me to remember it).

In conversation with Joe Rogan on his podcast, Stephen Meyer explains why the James Webb Telescope discoveries do not undermine the basic premise of the Big Bang theory. To understand this, we need to understand how the James Webb Telescope is constructed to observe matters in space further away from us than we have observed before.

We also need to understand the evidence for an expanding universe because the James Webb Telescope incorporates design elements that take advantage of the phenomenon that gives us proof of expansion in the universe. That evidence was discovered in the 1920s, and it provided the first evidence that the universe is expanding, and not static as was thought up to that point.

I will quickly explain that first evidence for an expanding universe. Then I will explain how the James Webb Telescope’s design is based on this evidence (thanks to Stephen Meyer in his conversation with Joe Rogan), and then I will explain how the success of the James Webb Telescope actually proves the basic Big Bang principal – that the universe is expanding.

Edwin Hubble is credited with the discovery that revolutionized our understanding of the basic character of the universe. Hubble was using novel techniques for measuring distant astronomical objects using spectral imaging. In the process, Hubble noticed that the color of some galactic objects were shifted into the longer wavelengths of the red spectrum.

This “red shift” suggested to him that those objects were moving further away. The red shift corresponds with a shift in distance for things we see in the same way that the Doppler effect corresponds with distance in the things we hear.

We all know the experience of hearing a train whistle coming at us. The pitch of the sounds gets louder and louder until it passes. Then it gets quieter and quieter as the train gets further and further away. The doppler effect for sound is the same as the red shift for light.

The red shift observable in distant star formations and galaxies demonstrates that they are moving away. The further away an astronomical formation moves away from us the more it shifts into the red area of the spectrum. The fact that some objects have progressed further into the red spectrum is the indication that those objects have moved farther away than other objects which are not as far into the red spectrum.

This ties into the James Webb telescope in the way the telescope was designed. It was constructed to detect infrared light because infrared light has longer wavelengths and is further into the red spectrum than previous instruments were able to detect.

The James Webb telescope is designed to detect infrared light, which is why it is able to detect astronomical formations that are further away than formations we were previously able to detect. The fact that the James Webb Telescope has been successful in detecting formations that are further away and earlier in time than anything we have previously seen is proof of the evidence of an expanding universe.

In other words, the James Webb telescope is designed on the basis of the evidence that demonstrates the earth is expanding. The fact that the James Webb Telescope has worked so well to capture stars, star formations and galaxies much older than anything we have ever observed is proof of the main premise of the Big Bang theory – that the earth is expanding.

To listen to the entire conversation between Joe Rogan and Stephen C. Meyer, go to the embedded video below.