2006-07-23 20:45:20 · 7 answers · asked by Paul 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
That is an awesome thought! They say space is eternity, and the big bang has to still be out there if it is. So you have hypothetically thought of a way to see in the past. Oh do I wish such a telescope were possible. Who knows, maybe in the future!
2006-07-23 20:52:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not with an optical telescope. But the flash from the Big Bang can be seen with radio telescopes sensitive to microwaves. Two scientists at Bell Labs in Holmdel, New Jersey, first detected the flash in 1964. Their names were Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. The flash is called the Cosmic Background Radiation, and it has been studied extensively since then. Today the Cosmic Background Radiation has been mapped in great detail across the entire sky by the NASA satellite called the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). Type 'cosmic microwave background radiation' into Wikipedia to find out more about this, including why the flash appears as microwave energy instead of light energy.
2006-07-24 05:41:47 · answer #2 · answered by Mark V 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The big bang as many people think of it, was not a flash at all, it was a moment when atoms started forming and imploding the canvas of space time. Now ur question is whether we could see into the past with an optical telescope. According to cosmological theories. We cannot look in a straight line if we saw the universe through a telescope. It is kind of like an ant in two dimentional space shaped like an orange, trying to look at the end of the universe. It is impossible. The current theories give space a pringle shape according to observations. So the answer to ur question is the big bang is still going on and we see it as cosmic background radiation.
2006-07-24 04:07:24 · answer #3 · answered by Danushka B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you knew the source point of the big bang (where the "light" was emitted from) then you would be able to see it only if the light was heading towards you. From earth that would not be a possibility. Think about a light bulb in your house. You can only see it because there is a direct line of sight in which the light is traveling. If the light bulb was, say, behind you. no matter how powerful the light, you cannot see the light waves. The brightness you may see in a room is due to the energy that is found in the light wave. As light waves bounce off objects, energy is absorbed and the "light" diminishes. With this thought, it only reinforces the fact that you would only be able to see the Big Bang if the light it emitted would be in a direct line of path between the source and you. Now the fact that light travels at a constant speed, the direct line of sight may be only available in certain moments in time. (Objects in space may interfere at different times, such as a comet flying by) The vision one would see of the Big Bang may only appear to be clips of it as its occurring in time, rather than a streaming real time image.
This is a very interesting issue you have brought, and a whole new set of questions to answer....
2006-07-24 04:14:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The energy of the Big Bang has cooled off until it is now microwave energy. You can pick it up all through space with the proper receiver. When you tune a television to a channel that is not broadcasting and you see that snow on the screen, some of that is the "noise" of the Big Bang. Two researchers, Arno and Penzias, received a Nobel prize for this discovery.
2006-07-24 03:48:57 · answer #5 · answered by aichip_mark2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably no,
i don't know what do u meant by unlimited powerful telescope. However human-made equipments got thier own limits.
2006-07-24 04:04:27 · answer #6 · answered by madds 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes ,I agree one cannot see the explosion but can detect the traces because it a contionous process with finite duration.
2006-07-24 03:50:38 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋