When we look out into space we are actualy looking back in time?

Question

So when we look out we are looking back into time and cannot see further than the age of the universe, correct?
example(if the universe is 14 billion years old we could only see 14 billion light years away)(because any further and the light would not have the time to reach us)
Why dont we see the edge? is it because light, even light a huge number of sources does not travel that far? (less than halfway across the universe)

Answer 1

i dont know if it answers your question, but we are sort of looking back in time. Like if people were able to build a rocket that could take us to the nearest star, and we had a very powerful telescope to be able to see people on earth, we wouldnt see us as we are now, we would see prob the stone age period - because it takes thousands of years for the light from earth to travel out to the nearest star. Vice versa, when you look at a star, it may no longer exist as the light that is reaching earth now is thousands of years old

Answer 2

Cosmologists and astronomers are careful to differentiate between 'the Universe' and 'the visible universe'. Technological limitations aside, there is a very real limit as to how far we can see into the depths of the universe, and that limit is imposed by the speed of light. While there is undoubtedly more of the Universe to observe, more time will need to pass before light from those depths can finally reach us. The so-called 'edge of the Universe' is really just the edge of the *visible* universe.

Take our friendly neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, which is approximately 2.52 million light years away from us. The math is pretty simple: today we are seeing Andromeda as it was 2.52 million years ago.

So, in short, your intuition is correct: when you look deep into space, you are literally looking back in time. Pretty neat, huh?

Wait a minute, though! Isn't the universe expanding at a furious acceleration? Well, yes. However, according to special relativity, this doesn't matter, since the speed of light remains constant at 299,792 km/s, regardless of the motion of source or observer (although the light may still be greatly redshifted or blueshifted however, depending on the object's vector and velocity). So, if you manage to live another 2.52 million years, you might just get a glimpse of Andromeda as it would look in our current time frame!

Answer 3

"...is it because light, even light a huge number of sources does not travel that far?..."

Basically what you wrote above is the answer. However, it's not that light can't travel 'that far' but instead galaxies beyond about 14-billion light years are embedded in space that's receding from us faster than the speed of light (..this doesn't violate relativity because it's space that's receding faster than light, not the galaxies in it) Astronomers determine the recessional velocity of distant galaxies by employing an equation related to the Hubble constant -- for every additional one-million parsecs away a galaxy is its recessional velocity increases by 70 km/sec.

Answer 4

it is because the formation of universe is faster than the speed of light. the universe is constantly expanding and at some time it may begin to shrink.

the edge may not be seen as we can't see all the 4dimensions of
the universe .(u cant see the edge of the wall in a dark room do u?)

go to wikepedia or encarta for more details

thanks for choosing mine as the best answer

Answer 5

we think the "edge" is the source of the Background noise heard by microwaves, and images from microwave surveys seem to reveal a "blotchiness" that may show the oldest separation of the universe into clumps.

This radiation may have started out as light, but has red-shifted down into microwave regions.

Latest and most distant observations in light spectra were accomplished by using the gravitational effect of an entire galaxy as a giant lens to image what are believed to be the very earliest light to escape once gravity swept hydrogen nuclei out of most space.

Answer 6

We don't see the edge because the naked eye or our super telescopes can't see that far, plus beyond the edge is just nothing so you couldn't see it anyway. there is a possibility of the light being blocked, but it should travel for infinite time and reach us, so if we HAD a powerfull enough machine to see that far we could.

Answer 7

We can't see older into space (past the edge as you call it) because older light that's bright enough to see with our telescopes hasn't reached us yet.

Answer 8

visible light is only part of the spectrum. In the early days of the universe, stars hadn't formed yet, so there's no visible light to see from way back then.

Answer 9

no. we don't see the edge because we haven't yet determined the distance to the edge and weill not as long as the universe continues to expand.

Answer 10

Because our telescopes are not strong enought.