Telescopes, Viewing the Past

[spiritknight]

What I don't understand which has been bothering me<br />the speed of light = 299,792,458 m / s is that correct?<br />The problem I see is that if we can see with a high powered telescope such as the Hubble Space Telescope such a far off distance then how can what we are seeing is in the past? <br /><br />I mean isn't a Telescope's purpose to give you a view as if you were extremely closer to the object in view? For us to see anything in the past like a star already dead it would have to be like what? 299,792,458 X ??????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????<br /><br />For light to take so long to not be the blink of an eye away in order it to be even 1 second in the past? So Say we are viewing a star billions of miles away. The light we see from that star is suppose to have happened long ago when even light takes only a second to reach us even from such a great distance?<br /><br />You would have to look further than 17,987,547,480 miles away for that light to take 1 minute to reach us. Exactly what is the furthest distance we can view with our most powerful telescope? Surely we can't see the speed of light times 1,000,000 years away? <br /><br />I'm pretty sure I have a good understanding of how this sort of thing works. Will someone give me a better understanding to this so called viewing the past?

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

I think you've got it. We can see that far away (and stop calling me Shirley <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> ) and further. I'm not sure what telescope (visible or infrared) holds the "record" for furthest viewed object. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-----------------------------------------------------</p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask not what your Forum Software can do do on you,</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask it to, please for the love of all that's Holy, <strong>STOP</strong> !</font></p> </div>

 

[spiritknight]

So does this mean that those images in the pics from that link. Those galaxies are now extinct as far as having an active star? I never knew we had the capability of seeing that far into the cosmos. <br /><br />But there are new solar systems. I remember a friend of mine who showed me with his telescope this small grouping of three stars. I understand that those star(s) are newer than our solar system? <br /><br />I suppose now that even if we had the technology to travel as far as we can see. Would there be anything left? In regards to the "Big Bang" theory. Where apporximatly are we from the 0 radius zone where the universe began? I can understand that galaxies further away from the starting point are so old because the rate of which the universe is expanding. <br /><br />But if we were to travel closer to the starting point. Would there be more presently active stars? It is true that Stars and planets are born and die everytday. An immense process of what looks like the entire universe recycling itself. I want to learn more about the universe. Thankyou for everyones help.

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

<font color="yellow"><i>"Where apporximatly are we from the 0 radius zone where the universe began? I can understand that galaxies further away from the starting point are so old because the rate of which the universe is expanding."</i></font><br /><br />This can be one of the more confusing aspects of the Big Bang theory. So far as we can tell we are at the exact center of the Big Bang (I think that was your question). Everything seems to be receeding from us uniformly in all directions. One possible explanation for this is that the true universe is actually larger than the observable universe, that which we can see. If some alien, 5 billlion LY from Earth were to look out on it's universe I suspect (but can't prove) it would think it's at the center of the Big Bang as well and it would be seeing parts of this larger universe that we can't now, and perhaps ever, see. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>-----------------------------------------------------</p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask not what your Forum Software can do do on you,</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000">Ask it to, please for the love of all that's Holy, <strong>STOP</strong> !</font></p> </div>

 

[R1]

we don't need a telescope to see the past, when you see the moon at night it's actually in the past <br />about a second or two.<br /><br /><br />When you see the sun, you're seeing the sun in the past by about 8 minutes,<br /><br /><br /><br />so I'm afraid the sun and the moon just can't be seen at the present time.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dragon04]

<font color="yellow">we don't need a telescope to see the past, when you see the moon at night it's actually in the past<br />about a second or two.</font><br /><br />Let me boggle your brain a little. When we look at the Moon, we're seeing <b>two</b> "pasts".<br /><br />One would be the Moon as it appeared a second and change ago, and also the light from the Sun that took 8 minutes+ in addition to how the Moon looked when it reflected the light itself.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[R1]

<img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />! you're right<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>