If my understanding of relativity is correct, which it probably is not, then due to relativistic effects a clock carried by a photon originating at the big bang would now show no time elapsed despite having undertaken a journey of 14 billion years.
2007-05-13 03:56:31 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You are correct. To a photon, there is no time, only space. This means that photons don't age. However, due to the expansion of the universe, they do get spaced out, or red-shifted.
2007-05-13 06:09:12 · answer #1 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, the photons from the big bang are 14 billion years old. But, you can not see them anymore because they spread apart so much that they have no effect on where they go.
2007-05-13 11:13:11 · answer #2 · answered by ck_pinna 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was going to say as old as the universe but then I thought that not all stars were created at the beginning as they are still being 'born' now. So, perhaps the better answer would be that a photon is as old as its parent star.
2007-05-13 14:23:07 · answer #3 · answered by elflaeda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey, but does a photon carry with it a watch? If photons could even carry watches, then they wouldn't be photons any more.
2007-05-13 11:01:58 · answer #4 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Never ask a photon it's age.
2007-05-13 11:09:15 · answer #5 · answered by Hi T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋