Far into the Universe...?

Question

With the current technology, human can only observe how the universe looked like in the past. Will human ever be able to observe what's going on right now in the far reaching cosmos?

Answer 1

flutterby is right! We can do things today that we never in our wildest dreams though we could have accomplished a hundred years ago. Think of what we will be able to do 50 years from now.

Answer 2

Probably not since light is the fastest thing on record it takes light a lot TIME to travel across the insane boundaries of the cosmos. So by the time light reaces us from distant stars and galaxies we're looking into the past. But if we invent some sort of space-time folding machine that's able to play with time in intimate ways, it could be possible. Are we that smart?

Answer 3

all observations use electromagnetic radiation. the definitions of the speed of that radiation has been defined at the speed of light 3x10^8 m/s. Whoever coded up this up in the grand scheme of things would be able to answer your question. If you know the programmer of this universe log a request. It's probably only a matter of resetting a #define SPEED_OF_LIGHT but make sure you ask if this will require a reboot of the universe!

Answer 4

No. If our laws of physics are correct, we couldn't see the far out ends of space. That is simply because light has a set speed, it isn't infinite.

We 'see' things when the light of those objects hits our eyes. Your seeing your computer screen right now because the light emitted from the it pass through the room and into your cornea. Technically speaking, you are actually viewing your monitor as it was thousandth of nanoseconds ago.

Likewise, in order to see a far away galaxy, we have to wait for light to go all the way from the star, through space, to earth and into our telescopes. So, if something is 500 million light years away (that is a measure of distance), then, because light has a limited speed, it took that light 500 million years for it to get to earth, so we are seeing that object as it was 500 million years ago.

It isn't really a question of technology, but rather of physics.

Answer 5

See, our sight is in fact the theory of light..... So, we are able to work out so a techniques as easy comes traveling to our eyes!! the linked fee of the easy is the quickest in the completed universe, ie, 30 million metre in line with 2d!!! So, in fact, the farther we see, the older are the failings which we are seeing!! The farthest products chanced on until eventually ultimately date comprise quasars!!

Answer 6

Light travels at a finite speed, and no faster, and is the fastest thing around. So, no.

Moreover, in Relativity, the phrase "right now" becomes essentially meaningless for distant objects, since the point in time that you count as "right now" for that distant galaxy depends on your speed towards or away from it... or really, in the expanding universe, can't be defined at all.

Answer 7

"Ever be able to..." is kind of a big question, but probably no, unless we are physically there to see it. The time lag is caused by the speed of light, which is a pretty basic limit (notwithstanding weird quantum effects at a distance). The problem is that time and space are irrevocably linked together by this limit, so the farther out you look in space, the farther back you look in time. I hope someone can prove me wrong someday.

Answer 8

Never say never! Technology has rocketed over the past 60 or so years and is still accelerating so who knows what we'll be able to do.

Answer 9

YES if it were possible to travel back in time..

Answer 10

It is not possible.