!5 billion light years

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by essexman, Sep 6, 2002.

  1. essexman Registered Member

    Messages:
    15
    Hi everybody iv'e not been here for a while.
    I got involved in another forum. Got a bit bored with it and now I'm back.
    This may sound silly to some But I have a question, here goes. I hope you will bear with me.
    The hubble space telescope took the deep field pictures a few years ago and what it revealed was breathtaking. Baby galaxies 15billion light years away thousands of them.
    Now here is the tricky bit.
    General opinion is saying now the universe is 15 to 20 billion years old.
    This light has been traveling towards us for 15 billion years and came from a source 15 billion light years away. When the light began it's journey it was 15 billion light years away because it took that long to reach us.
    Is it not said that the universe began as a singularity smaller than an atom.
    Since nothing can exceed the speed of light how did this matter manage to travel 15 billion light years away from us in say no more than a few billion years. Remember the fact that the galaxy is receeding from us does not matter because the speed of light is constant. The only variable here is time.
    Any thoughts?
     
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  3. Popcorn8636 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    65
    Well, I think that the universe could be much older than scientists say it is. For instance, what if all of the stars from 30 or 40 billion years ago all died out, leaving the oldest stars to be around 15 billion years old? Is there any way we can trace exploded stars from so looooooooooong ago?

    As for the speed of light being a constant, I remember reading that a few Australian researchers have found that light may not travel at a constant. I'm not sure exactly what site it was on, but I think it's something to do with ABC.
     
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  5. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    6,495
    I believe that when the big bang occured the universe did accelerate faster than the speed of light, I may be wrong but that's how it became so huge so quickly.
     
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  7. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    8,616
    Here's another thought to go with this.

    At its inception, moments after the big bang, if you will, the space the universe occupied was nowhere near what it is now. That means anything traveling covered more ground in the same space of time. (Allowing expansion to assist in creating more distance) I guess what I am saying is that the distances between point A and B were not as far as they would be today.
     
  8. Popcorn8636 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    65
    Wet1

    I agree with you're idea. Although we may never know for sure, that's probably the best idea.
     

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