Looking back.(Kevin Hughes) Authors Note: When Hubble first got "fixed" and took a deep sky picture of a very tiny slice of the Universe, it found thousands of Galaxies we never knew existed. What will the 100 times more powerful James Webb Telescope see when it looks back in time? This is one guess.

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Everyone stood still. I mean everyone. Not only could you have heard a pin drop, you could have dropped an anvil on a tin roof, and nobody would have heard that either. They stood transfixed. Everyone at NASA, Everyone watching at home. People on trains, busses, or in Uber’s were staring at their smartphones. Traffic was at a standstill. Nobody moved when the lights turned green…and anyone at a red light…stayed put.

The first pictures from the brand spanking new James Webb Telescope were coming in. Six months and three days after it left Earth, it was finally sending something back. It’s first task was to look back at the “Big Bang”. Scientists weren’t even sure what they were looking for. They thought, and it was only a speculation, that they would see the moment that “let there be light” became a reality. They thought what they would see, was as far back as anyone could look.

The first pictures appeared. Now people froze in place. An almost Universal gasp came from everyone watching. Some hands flew to cover mouths, some eyes grew so wide in surprise you could have used that look in a greeting card. A few uttered curse words, a few more…prayers. They were looking back to the very beginning of the Universe. They expected the unexpected…they thought they were ready. They were not.

The one thing they never expected. Not even the fringe elements of Science and Astronomy. No one. Not a single person... expected what those first pictures revealed:

Someone, some thing, or some one…was…looking…back.

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