We see into the past by observing stars billions of light years away, as they appear as they were when the light left them. But these stars are also constantly moving, accelerating away from us, so, are we also seeing them in the position they were billions of years ago? As this is nearly back far enough to the Big Bang, when stars were clustered more closely together, shouldn't we be seeing them like that, now?
2007-03-25 12:23:30 · 16 answers · asked by john g 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
that doesnt make sense if you are seeing the stars as they were in the past then you cant see how they are now. peace NJ
2007-03-25 12:27:54 · answer #1 · answered by neerajv23 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well yes, we are seeing the light that is billions of years old, in fact some of the light you are seeing may come from stars that have long since died but their light is still traveling through space. I think you're a little bit confused on the big bang though. The bang didn't just pop out stars fully assembled, they had to slowly form from interstellar gasses. The age of the universe is estimated to be about 14 billion years, and even though stars are huge and their light remains for millions if not billions of years it is very unlikely that you would be seeing any light old enough to have been let off by starts formed immediately after the big bang. Also, we can only see the light from the stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, which is kind of off toward the center. If you really wanted to see starlight that is billions and billions of years old you would have to travel to one of the galaxies on the fringes of the universe (universe is constantly expanding so things get older as you get further out). Unfortunately, the life cycle of a star is less then the 14 billion year age of the universe so you'd probably be able to see some very old stars, but nothing in the ballpark of the big bangs original creations.
2007-03-25 13:05:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No - the starting point of the light will be the same no matter how fast the stars are moving. The light left the star at point x and reaches us at point y. If the star subsequently moves after the time the light leaves it, that would make no difference to what you see now. If you sat looking at the same star for years and years, the light you see will get older and older.
Erm, actually I have no idea what I'm on about, but that's a very good question.
But it's certainly true that everytime you look at a star you are looking back into the past.
2007-03-25 12:38:09 · answer #3 · answered by Hello Dave 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes. As for nearly far enough to the big bang, I wouldn't take much stock in what humans believe is the time frame of the entire universe. While I'm sure we have a better understanding now than we've ever had, it seems to me the Universe is probably alot older than current theorist are claiming. It may just be me though. For the first billion years there were no stars in the Universe. It was dark and cold. We still don't know what drove Galaxy formation and evolution so who's to say what we should be seeing or not? We have to take the Cosmos for what it is.
2007-03-25 12:36:37 · answer #4 · answered by magicninja 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, if they moved, say, 5 inches in the sky right now, we wouldn't see it for another X amount of years because of this principle. The light the sun generates takes X amount of time to reach the Earth, so it is literally preserved in time. Now think about this: Light travels at 186,000 miles per SECOND. With a snap of your fingers, imagine traveling 186,000 miles. Now, if you kept this up, your travelling pretty darn far. But then, it takes billions of years for light to reach us from that star. THAT'S far away. Not to Canada. Not to Japan. But to there.
2007-03-25 12:44:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably not , light travels at 186,000 miles a second, so multiply that by 60 second then 60 minutes, then 365 days, and that's how long it take for light to travel in one year , some of them that you may see, could be burnt out a long time ago.
2007-03-27 23:28:54 · answer #6 · answered by cornelius.foley 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes you're right, you see the stars how and where they were how ever many light years away they are.
This concept always scares me. A planet 4 billion light years away can see us as we were 4 billion years ago, which was basically a ball of rock.
2007-03-25 12:33:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You got it. the light we see from the stars has been travelling for millions of years in some cases. It's probably that the stars aren't at those coordinates now.
2007-03-26 02:33:02 · answer #8 · answered by elflaeda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stars were not created in the big bang - just the material to create them. We then came along much later so even if there was anything to see we missed it by a long way.
2007-03-25 12:32:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Likely the galaxies seen at extreme distances don't exist anymore.
The universe is a finite entity and it has probably been in a state of demise for billions of years,
We just have to catch up to it.
2007-03-25 12:59:58 · answer #10 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes,cause if its a billion lightyears away the lights just getting hear,good thinking,also,how do we know that somestars havent gone out?for all we know half the stars in the skiy have gone out and we are just barely getting there light
2007-03-25 12:31:53 · answer #11 · answered by Jaden B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋