Hubble

[Beestie]

Isn't there a new space telescope in the works?

Hey, you're a smart guy so maybe you can answer this question. I read where the Hubble captured a pic of an object 13B light years away so they figure its almost as old as the universe itself.

So if it took 13B years for the light to reach earth, doesn't that mean it was in that location 13B years ago? That would seem to be impossible since, it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

I can't figure that one out.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It was on a treadmill.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Isn't there a new space telescope in the works? ... That would seem to be impossible since, it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

That assumes they are not the same source? Welcome to why we need this research and (if America wants to be #1) also need to be doing quantum physics in America. Especially in the past decade, most fundamental research had been leaving the US due to extremists who hate what is not justified by their political agenda.

I believe the other scope is named Webb. Scientists are very excited to have both observatories working simultaneously. Work performed by Hubble can be calibrated against future work by Webb. And other techniques (including combining both images into a super telescope) are expected. The waiting list for access to Hubble has been massive. A traffic jam that Webb alone cannot alleviate.

I believe Webb is still something like four years away. But science expects great things from both scopes in combination with a constellation of other gamma ray, X-ray, and infrared observatories. Basic science that was being killed by some stupid fools who found glory in "Man to Mars".

Value of Hubble was a surprise. Hubble could very well be the greatest science experiment in 20 years in everything from deep space study to sub-atomic quantum physics to understanding the very nature of what Einstein desperately wanted to solve - the fundamental relations of all matter (ie dark matter) and energy (including time and gravity).

Webb is expected to provide a decade improvement on the results from Hubble.

I don't even try to answer a 13billion light year question since even the best of minds have numerous and contrasting theories. We can only go with what we know – follow the evidence. And keep getting more facts.

Meanwhile, based upon what we have learned, Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek concept has held up surprisingly well. Compare that to Jules Verne's Nautilus.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Isn't there a new space telescope in the works?

Hey, you're a smart guy so maybe you can answer this question. I read where the Hubble captured a pic of an object 13B light years away so they figure its almost as old as the universe itself.

So if it took 13B years for the light to reach earth, doesn't that mean it was in that location 13B years ago? That would seem to be impossible since, it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

I can't figure that one out.

I don't fully understand you question. You write

it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

Which two? Object X (as seen by Hubble) and ... what, Earth? If so, why not?

Perhaps this might help confuse the shit out of you:

The universe is appx 14B years old. It is MUCH more than 14B light years across. Matter is scattered at least as far as we can see in BOTH directions, vastly more than 14B light years from side to side. How could this be, if nothing can move faster than C, the speed of light?

The answer, (and I hope it answers your questions too) is "inflation"; the idea that the universe underwent an incredibly rapid expansion very early in its existence.
Imagine a few flies crawling about the surface of an infinitely stretchy balloon. Neither can crawl faster than C. After one second, they might be two light seconds apart. But if someone is blowing up the ballon (really really fast and big) you might go back and measure the distance and find it a lot more than two light seconds, because the skin of the balloon has stretched because of the inflation.

Got that? This will be in the exam next week.



Bruce ... you're evil

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Beestie

So if it took 13B years for the light to reach earth, doesn't that mean it was in that location 13B years ago? That would seem to be impossible since, it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

That is how I understand it.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Hey, you're a smart guy so maybe you can answer this question. I read where the Hubble captured a pic of an object 13B light years away so they figure its almost as old as the universe itself.

So if it took 13B years for the light to reach earth, doesn't that mean it was in that location 13B years ago? That would seem to be impossible since, it would not be possible for any two objects to be 13B light years apart 13B years ago.

I can't figure that one out.

There's been some thirteen gigayears of expansion of the spacetime, too. And frankly, anything that ancient is expected to look subtly weird somehow, too. Analysis of spectral features is probably going to lead to a number of "hmm, that's really fucking odd" moments.