Are there galaxies so distant from earth that their light has not reached us yet?

Question

And if so how would you know?

Answer 1

You have to understand that the universe has a finite age, and so the visible Universe has a finite size. This doesn’t mean that it has an edge, it simply means that the Universe is not old enough for the light from distant stars to have reached us yet. Although light moves very quickly, it still takes a long time to reach us from distant stars. The farthest that can be seen is the distance light has travelled in the age of the Universe, i.e. 15 billion years. Light from more distant objects hasn’t had time to reach us yet. This boundary of visibility continues to increase as new light reaches us, and new galaxies come into view.

If stars lived forever, this would mean that the sky would get brighter and brighter with time, until the sky was indeed bright at night. However, stars only live for about 10,000,000,000 years, so by the time the light from the distant stars has reached us, the stars closest to us have reached the end of their lifetime and cooled to the point where they can no longer be seen.
:-)

Answer 2

We could not know but yes galaxies may be so distant that light has not reached us. The Big Bang Theory can be wrong and the Universe can be older than computed.

Answer 3

Since the universe's age is estimated to about 15 billion years, galaxies that are more diatant than 15 billion light years from earth wouldn't appear in the night sky since their light didn't have time to reach us.We just woulldn't know about their existence.

Answer 4

There are unlimited number of galaxies which light has not been reached till now bee cause the light we get are around 2 billion light years and human knowlege is so small to access it. Example pluto conterversy which to 50 years for finalisation

Answer 5

yes because they are so far that light from them will take many more years to reach the earth.this fact is but still not sure as per astronomers because the space is infinite.but it is this infinity only that supports this statement:"some galaxies or stars are so far away from the earth that their light has not reached earth yet."

Answer 6

The most distant objects we can currently detect are about 12 billion light years away, i.e. we see them as they were 12 billion years ago. Red-shift (an effect on light similar to the drop in a siren tone as it moves away) show these Quasi-Stellar Objects (quasars) are moving away, relative to us, at something approaching 90% light speed.

The further an object is away, the faster its speed relative to us; so more distant objects would be receding at, or beyond light speed - so we will never see them.

But hang on, aren't we told that nothing can go faster than light? Well, its true that no object can go through space that fast, but these objects aren't moving through space, space itself is expanding, so General Relativity isn't violated.

Answer 7

Space is generally believed to be finite, due to the Big bang theory. If space was infinite, then the matter involved in the Big bang would also have to be infinite. Apparantly it is believed that the universe is expanding still due to the big bang, but slowly the gravity between all the masses in the universe are slowing this down and eventually it will start to contract.

Answer 8

Yes. Since there are galaxies still being "born" in the far distance, there light has not yet reached us.

Answer 9

Yes, there are undiscovered galaxies in the universe, due to the universe expanding more and more over the years. just because their light has not reached us yet does not mean they do not exist.

Answer 10

Of course there are galaxies whose light have not reached us. We cannot observed them using a telescope but according to physical laws, we predict that there are other galaxies out there not oberved by us