How long would it take light to travel from the center of the universe to the further galaxy?

Question

I had just read that the closest galaxy to ours is 1.6 million light years away and that there are something like 200 billions galaxies. Is this correct information? Also, about how many stars are there in the universe? Given the age of the universe, how did matter reach such distances traveling slower than the speed of light? What's the fastest speed the furthest galaxy had to travel to reach it's current point in space?

I made a typo - How long would it take light to travel from the center of the universe to the furtherEST galaxy?

Answer 1

"...the closest galaxy to ours is 1.6 million light years away..."
Not true. The closest galaxy to Earth is the Large Magellanic Cloud at 180,000 light years. It's not visible from the northern hemisphere though.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap980124.html

"...about how many stars are there in the universe?..."
A recent survey puts the approximate total number of stars in the observable universe at 700-sextillion
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/space/SpaceRepublish_910295.htm

"...how did matter reach such distances traveling slower than the speed of light?..."
Because of what Edwin Hubble discovered many years ago -- the farther away a galaxy is the faster is its recessional velocity. For every 3.26-million light years farther away a galaxy is, its velocity will be 2,236 mph faster.

"...What's the fastest speed the furthest galaxy had to travel to reach it's current point in space..."
The most distant galaxy we've found so far is about 29-billion light years away (http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=693) Per the Hubble constant quoted above, its velocity would have been 1.4^15 mph. That speed seems to violate relativity, but remember it's space that's expanding at that velocity, not the subject galaxy moving THROUGH space.

"...How long would it take light to travel from the center of the universe to the further galaxy?..."
The universe has no center! That doesn't seem to make sense, but remember that at the instant the universe began it began every "where" at once--before then there was no "where."

Answer 2

That's a lot of questions.

To start with, there is no "center" of the universe as far as we know. It looks the same in all directions.

The nearest galaxy to milky way is the Canis Major dwarf galaxy, which is only 25,000 light years from us and only 42,000 light years from the center of the milky way. The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest large galaxy--it's 2.5 million light years away.

It is estimated that there are 70 x 10^22 stars in the observable universe.

While matter cannot travel faster than light, space itself can expand, and the rate of expansion can make the distance between objects increase faster than light speed. The expansion of space is the main reason that galaxies are so far apart--they really don't "move" at anything close to light speed. There is still matter in the universe that is too far away for us to see--light has not had time to reach us from these places.

Answer 3

If I got this right you want to know how these galaxies had traveled so much distance since the big bang without flying with the speed of light, right. Well, they did not. Actually when the universe was "created" there were no galaxies - the big bang spread all the matter in the whole space. So the galaxies didn't travel anywhere, just the matter - lead by the gravity - has formed the galaxies in different places around the universe.

Answer 4

EXCELLENT question..
I would love to know the answer..
I know the most distant galaxy we have been able to
detect at the visible most distant edge of the universe is
about 13 billion light years...
Of couse we are not in the center of the universe so that
does not answer your question.

Answer 5

well, it again depends upon the distance because sadly till now we haven't found about the farthest galaxy form ours. when we measure the galaxies in scale of the universe then we consider our galaxy in the centre of the universe because that eases our calculations. it could even be true that our galaxy may be in the centre. the same goes for the total no. of stars. we are uncertain about it.

thanks.

Answer 6

Nobody knows, it is too far to measure


space is infinate, if you disagree lets go on an imaginary journey right now,,,,,,,,, OK we are there on the edge of the universe and there is a massive brick wall, we look over the top, and, there is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,more space

Answer 7

5 light years

Answer 8

Quasars are considered to be the most distant objects in the universe.