Posted on Mar 30, 2022
The light from this star that astronomers just spotted is 12.9 billion years old
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/ [login to see] /the-light-from-this-star-that-astronomers-just-spotted-is-12-9-billion-years-old
Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture light from what appears to be the most distant single star ever seen.
Because light takes time to travel through space, scientists see this star as it appeared when its light began its journey 12.9 billion years ago — just 900 million years after the Big Bang that started the universe.
The find, described in the journal Nature, is unusual because most of the light that scientists have spotted from the early days of the universe has come from galaxies that contain many stars and look like little blobs.
"We're actually able to pick out the light from this one individual star," says Brian Welch, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University and the lead author of the scientific report that describes this work.
Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture light from what appears to be the most distant single star ever seen.
Because light takes time to travel through space, scientists see this star as it appeared when its light began its journey 12.9 billion years ago — just 900 million years after the Big Bang that started the universe.
The find, described in the journal Nature, is unusual because most of the light that scientists have spotted from the early days of the universe has come from galaxies that contain many stars and look like little blobs.
"We're actually able to pick out the light from this one individual star," says Brian Welch, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University and the lead author of the scientific report that describes this work.
The light from this star that astronomers just spotted is 12.9 billion years old
Posted from npr.org
Astronomy
Space
Science
Johns Hopkins University
Posted >1 y ago
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Amazing how we can see that many light years away. Not being an astronomer how do we know for sure that it is it is that many light years away what do you use to gauge it
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
MAJ Bob Miyagishima I'm not an astronomer either, but some basic physics is the only requirement here. Are you familiar with the doppler effect (e.g. what you 'hear' as a train whistle passes by you)? Since light is also a wave (like sound), a similar phenomenon occurs as light propagates without hitting any resistance. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. It has an original wavelength at its source, but as it travels away from that source, the original wavelength gradually become extended. The name given to this phenomenon is "red shift." Why? As the diagram I've provided attempts to show, the greater the distance a light wave propagates from its source, the greater the shift towards the infrared end of the electromagnetic spectrum (aka red shift). This change is measurable. And the speed of light is also measurable. Between the two, the distance we are from any particular light source (in this case, a star) can be calculated with a fair amount of certainty.
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MAJ Bob Miyagishima
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price yeah but we're talking about billions of light years, not across the street. I know the basic principle you're talking about. It's hard to believe we can measure that far in time and space. To me it's a guesstimate but what do I know, I'm not a scientist
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I tend to think that God created the Universe. I'm not a fan of science when it's contradicts the Bible, anyway just saying
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MAJ Bob Miyagishima
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price genesis says "in the beginning God created the heaven and earth." Heaven, being the universe. Different religions teach different things. According to the book of Genesis: God created the Universe - and all the heavenly bodies, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, in six days. Thus, I'm not a believer in The Big Bang Theory. You may be a believer of The Big Bang Theory, but I'm not, and I'm not going to debate religion here. I know cosmologists talks about the Big Bang Theory.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
MAJ Bob Miyagishima No debate intended. The Big Bang Theory is just that...a theory. It doesn't quite explain all that we can observe.
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