While this picture may look like a bunch of stars, but it comes close to a time machine. The picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has reached back 13.2 billion years to reveal baby galaxies after the Big Bang.
This is the picture of space just 600 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang.
The existence of these newly found galaxies pushes back the time when galaxies.
They are the product of Hubble’s new infrared Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), installed in May.
The James Webb Space Telescope is planned for launch in 2014 and allow astronomers to study the detailed nature of early galaxies and go even further back in time.
For the full story, click here.
Here’s a link to the NASA site for the picture; right-click and save the target for a huge image you can open and zoom into- it’s just full of interesting things. (‘My god, it’s full of stars!’)
The “Astronomy Picture of the Day” site is a good place to spend some time and recharge your ‘sense of wonder’ batteries.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091209.html
Byron,
“The constitutional meaning of welfare is: 1. happiness, or prosperity.”
I thought we’d had this discussion already.
Happiness is exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t mean a hand out. I mean a combination of a hand up and safety systems that discourage the things that destroy civilization when left unchecked.
When people aren’t worried they’ll lose their home or have to declare bankruptcy if they get cancer, they’re happier than when they do have to worry about it.
When hungry people have to worry if they can feed their kids today, they are happier when they don’t.
When people don’t have to worry that the cops are going to screw them if they call as the victim, they are happy.
When people go to court and know everyone is getting the same treatment, they are happy.
When people can get a good education without worrying about staggering debt, they are happy.
When people don’t have to worry if their food and water are toxic, they are happy.
Welfare is social happiness. It’s satisfaction that your society is protecting everyone, weak to strong. Social happiness is best promoted by a social mechanism, be it a governmental or an economic mechanism. Some things cannot be left to the vagaries of a free market because free markets without control breed abuses and ergo unhappiness.
Rational self interest would only work to this end if everyone was homogenous in thought and action. This is why RSI fails – it’s incompatible with the reality of human nature and the fact some people are bad actors who’d sacrifice society to feed their own twisted egos.
Look, I don’t have much patience for those who won’t (as opposed to can’t) help themselves. But with PROPERLY constructed systems and equitable enforcement of the law, you can eventually either educate those people into productivity or the next generation into productivity. Will socialized solutions be perfect? No. Perfection is impossible. But they’ll increase happiness overall. In addition to happy people being more productive and less likely to resort to revolution, happiness is in itself a form of prosperity.
Superluminal motion is perfectly consistent with Special Relativity and General Relativity. The big requirement for superluminal motion is that it cannot be observable.
We can observe these galaxies receding at close to the speed of light, and infer correctly that the distance between us and them (i.e. the two points in the space in which our locations are embedded) is increasing faster than the speed of light. We can’t observe any galaxies receding that fast because we don’t see them as they are now. So, no problem.
“I hope each and every one of you have been to a dark sky site. The closest for me is Joshua Tree National Park”
I’ve enjoyed camping at Joshua Tree in the past. It is a truly beautiful spot. I unfortunately never ran into your star party but I have attended them before. I myself have a few amateur refractors, one a 90 richfield and a 120\1000 larger scope that I use mostly for near objects. And fortunately I live in a very dark area with a great sky view, so fortunately no need to travel to see the good stuff. (neighbor’s got a Dob)
“And keep in mind spacetime expands like the surface of an inflating balloon.”
I’m aware of that but nonetheless there is still a perimeter. If it were expanding at the speed of light, then it could not be as far across as it is now. Regardless of the shape, the farthest point from center couldn’t exceed the age. If the universe is 13 billion years old, then the farthest in any measurement across could not exceed around 26 billion light years.
Thus the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light.
I hope each and every one of you have been to a dark sky site. The closest for me is Joshua Tree National Park, where I’ve spent many hours observing and imaging what I see and what I can’t possibly see. For any of you interested, Lynne and I and a group of amateur astronomers meet there twice a year -March and October- for three days during the New Moon. We feed from 25-45 people, taste wine, eat recklessly, and laugh a lot. But we are all quite serious about what we have before us, up there.
There are always many top-of-the-line optics in play, from a 6-inch triplet refractor to a “portable” 25″ trussed reflector, and a multitude of smaller optics, so there’s no need to bring your own.
Camping fees are around 10 bucks for those planning to stay. We have enjoyed the company of those who travel far and wide to see and experience such splendor. All are welcome.
Thirty,
Look into the phenomena of inflation as it relates to cosmology. That may answer some of your questions. And keep in mind spacetime expands like the surface of an inflating balloon.
Of course at that point I think the matter would shift to wave until it slowed again. Since we know particles can shift in and out of wave\particle state then its like once it reaches the speed of light and beyond, it itself transitions to wave state.
“These galaxies are actually 53 billion light years away now.”
You know that’s an interesting point with regards to whether matter can exceed the speed of light. The answer is yes, as the universe itself is expanding faster than the speed of light which is evident by the size. If the universe is 13 billion years old and if the universe were expanding only as fast as the speed of light, then the farthest across the universe could be at any given point would be around 26 billion light years across. But since we know the universe is larger than that then its obvious the universe itself is expanding faster than the speed of light.
Meaning matter can exceed the speed of light.
mav,
Redshift does some odd things. Thankfully these deeper field observations are made possible by using gravitational lensing and more sophisticated sensors in the new generation of sats.
On any given topic, I am an expert compared to you, bdainsecure. That’s why you attack me all the time. I’m a polymath and that scares people with borderline or otherwise malformed personalities. You old toothless barking troll you.
Could you just keep your trolling to the global warming / climate change stories? What compels you to insert them everywhere? I DO skip over them but other people don’t and people reply to you and you end up still hijacking every thread and turning it into a global warming fight.
ANYWAY to get back on topic:
This picture is of galaxies that existed 13.2 billion years ago, near the Big Bang horizon which is the limit. But it should be noted, that these galaxies NOW are much further away than this.
The photons that left them have traveled across 13.2 billion light years, but space has been expanding like a rubber sheet since then. The closest light years along their path, within the Milky Way, haven’t had much time to expand, but the first few light years they traveled just after being emitted are now elongated, to be about ten times the size. These galaxies are actually 53 billion light years away now.
My comment wasn’t directed to anyone in particular.
Oh, I already know all about it wanted to see what an expert had to say Mr. Expert