How can the most distant object be 13 billion light years away, when the universe is only 14 billion years old

Question

Does this mean that the most distant objects must be traveling away at about 90% of the speed of light. Is this true?

Answer 1

The most distant object in our VISIBLE universe is around 13.7 billion ly but there are objects beyond that horizon from which light can never reach us and we call it the non-observable universe. I understand what you're puzzled about because I was wondering about the same question once. First, you must know the Earth is not at the center of the Universe. If some object is 13.7 billion ly or even farther away from Earth how could it get there since everything started in one place (assuming the Big Bang theory is right) only 13.7 billion years ago, unless it travels at the speed of light all the time, which is forbidden by Theory of Relativity.

The solution is that space expands at a rate greater than the speed of light and everything embedded in space travels WITH it. The keyword is WITH. Theory of Relativity only forbids matter to travel equal to or faster than light THROUGH or WITH RESPECT TO space but NOT WITH space. We take space or more precisely spacetime as an absolute reference frame.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

Matter between two points cannot travel at the speed of light but space itself can. Because of gravitational bonds overcoming the force of Big Bang expansion, you will find that galaxies themselves are not expanding. Only the space between galaxies is expanding. This space can expand at the speed of light as it not bound by the relativity laws.

Astronomers do not know where the center of the Big Bang was or if there is no center. We need further avdancements in telescopes before we can find the answer as to where we lie in the 'universe'. Current theory would indicate that the Big Bang did not explode into empty space but is a universe unto itself.

Here is the theory: The visible universe appears to have a radius of 14 billion light years. The farthest visible galaxy is 13.7 billion light years away. The universe also appears to be about 14 billion years old. For this reason everybody in the universe will seem to find themselves at the middle of their own visible universe. The precise scale of the universe is complicated by the fact that the universe is expanding. Galaxies we see near the edge of the visible universe emitted their light when they were much closer to us, and they will now be much further away. This leads to the 92.94 diameter of the Universe 'now'.

The geometry of the universe is built upon young theories. But in the scenario of thie current theory, the Universe has no edge but simply curves back into itself having no edges.

This is the best that we have to go on today. Theories could always change with new and better information.

Answer 3

I Suppose You Dint Get The Concept Of The Light Year. It's Not A Unit Of Time. Rather, It's A Unit Of Distance. One Light Year Is The Distance Travelled By Light Of A Celestial Body To Us In One Solar Year. As Per The Big Bang Theory Of The Origin Of The Universe, It's Expanding Continuously Sine Its Birth. Now, It an Easily Expand A Damn Long Portion In 14 Billion Years. Hope That's Clear Now.

Answer 4

The key to understanding is that those objects some 13-billion light years away aren't actually 13-billion light years away *today*. As you pointed out, those objects are moving close to the speed of light, but that's true for *today* only. Right *now* the galaxies we observe at 13-billion light years are much, much farther away, and moving away *faster* than the speed of light (..this is allowed by relativity since it's space itself that's expanding at that velocity and not the structures in it moving through space..) There's a nifty equation for all of this -- for every 1 mega parsec (...3,261,688 light years..) farther away an object is its velocity will be about 70 km/sec greater.

It's always important when talking or reading about the universe to realize that we're referring to the *observable* universe. For example, the age of the observable universe is about 13.7-billion years, or the farthest we can currently see into the observable universe is about 13.7-billion light years, etc.,. Many cosmologists estimate that the entire universe is on the order of 400 times larger than what we can see of it.

Answer 5

that does not mean the most distant object is travelling
1 lightyear is the distance light travels for a year
that is 3*10^8*60*60*24*365.25 meters
so 13 billion light years means
3*10^8*60*60*24*365.25*13 billion meters
there is no mention of speed there in the unit "Light year"

Answer 6

The universe is 13.7 billion years ago and thanks to dark energy and the violence of the big bang you are correct, the objects at the most distance from us must be moving at a large fraction of the speed of light, to have gotten that far in the time. Of course don't forget that the light you are seeing is 13.7 billion years old so you can cut your 90% value by one-half since the light has had to cross the distance to reach us.

Answer 7

it is commonly known that the farther sometthing is the longer it takes the light to reach you. with that in mind you may want to think about the objects that were expelled in to space by the big bang 'theory". these things may have been expelled so fast that even light may not have been able to keep up so maybe we still have not seen all the stars in the night sky to the farthest reaches of the universe because the light has not reached us yet.

Also to support the guy above a light year is about 3 trillion miles.

Answer 8

Think about it. 13 billion, 14 billion? Awfully round numbers don't you think. Maybe they should say give or or take a billion. The fact is they don't really know. Those are estimates. What scientist know about the universe is far outweighed by what they don't know.

Answer 9

you're correct. such objects are generally quasars--the ultra-luminous and ultra-energy emitting centers of such distant galaxies. astronomers are really excited about seeing things so far away, because it means we are seeing them as they were 13 billion years ago, because of the speed of light. we can learn about the universe's beginnings by looking farther and farther away, and "into the past."

Answer 10

It's a tough question to answer but I don't agree with those who say that space is moving faster than the speed of light, by definition space is what contains matter, therefore space can't move faster than its contents, only the separation of galaxies can exceed the speed the speed of light, this is not a measure of absolute motion, it is relativistic.