and the big bang was the origin of our universe, then wouldn't we be able to see our planet forming?
2007-03-28 14:01:47 · 9 answers · asked by dabliss74 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
OK thanks for all the no's...so tell me why not....if you look at the sun and there is a 7 light minute difference, and if we could see a planet 30,000,000 light yrs away it'd be 30,000,000 years old (not real time) then why wouldnt we be able to see our planet forming...just as if an intelligent species was 65,000,000 light years away looking for intelligent life present day and they could actually see the life on the planet, they would see dinosaurs, not us, so why wouldn't we be able to see the origins of our planet if we had a telescope strong enough to see 15 billion light years....or what I am saying is why wouldnt we see the big bang if we pointed the telescope in the right direction? I know this gets pretty deep into physics and red shift blue shift stuff, but all I am asking is...is it possible to see the big bang?
2007-03-28 14:42:11 · update #1
No. Even if we could see back that far, we would be looking at things far enough away that light had to take that long to get here (working against the expansion, of course). The earth formed about 5 billion years ago, by the way.
2007-03-28 14:43:33 · answer #1 · answered by mathematician 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
When we look at an object, whether we use a telescope or not, we are able to see it because light from the object, in the form of photons, travels from the object, eventually gets to us where it enters our eye, strikes a detector in the back of our eye called the retina, and produces an image for the brain to see.
The photon had to travel a distance. If the object is 10 feet away then the photon had to travel that 10 feet. A photon will travel at a speed of no more than approximately 186,282 miles per second so from 10 feet away it gets to you very very very quickly. So fast, in fact, that it's almost instantaneous.
The farther away the object is, the longer it takes the light to get from it to you. If the distances are great enough there will be a perceivable delay.
Now, looking off into space, we are not only looking into the past, as we always are, we are looking in a direction AWAY from us. So for much the same reason that you can't see yourself when you look across a room, you can't see the Earth when you look out from it.
Now the Earth is always moving. It is not stationary and the solar system isn't stationary and the galaxy isn't stationary. We are zipping through the universe and the Earth is many billions of miles from where it was millions of years ago. So you might wonder, if we were to look back to where the Earth was, could we see it? The answer to that is also no. Light travels faster than the Earth does and the light from the Earth when it was in that location would have already passed us (not to mention be to dim, or drowned out by the light of the sun, for us to see).
So, no.
2007-03-28 19:17:14 · answer #2 · answered by minuteblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question. It's true that when you look at a star, you're looking into the past, because the light you're viewing was actually generated long ago. In fact, the place that the light appears is no longer anywhere near the star's actual location, if the star even exists anymore. In effect, the further you look into space, the older the images you are viewing.
2007-03-28 15:07:30 · answer #3 · answered by josh m 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ridiculous . your question makes no sense. your telescope seeing 15 billion light years away would not allow you to see back in time. first off why would you need to look so far away to see in the past anyway. you heard looking to the stars is like looking to the past. that meant most of the stars we see are no longer shining. but we can still see there.
2007-03-28 14:10:24 · answer #4 · answered by dmck105 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
no. we would see the cosmic background radiation, which has been seen by the cobe satellite. we could not see our own planet forming unless we managed to outrace light away from it and then look backwards, but that is impossible.
2007-03-28 14:06:43 · answer #5 · answered by Tim C 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No because you would be standing on our planet looking out with your super duper telescope stupid! Think about it! You big dummy!
2007-03-28 14:05:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
The question is interesting, because it has no answer!
2007-03-28 14:10:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
yes
2007-03-28 14:05:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
no
2007-03-28 14:05:40 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋