What is the most distant thing we can see?

[Admin]

To the unaided human eye, the night sky is resplendent with over 9,000 individual points of light, but that perspective covers only a bare fraction of the universe.

What is the most distant thing we can see? : Read more

 

[DC8Captain]

So how does a whole galaxy form in only 400m years?

 

[mark_robinson]

To the unaided human eye, the night sky is resplendent with over 9,000 individual points of light, but that perspective covers only a bare fraction of the universe.

What is the most distant thing we can see? : Read more

In the article V762 Cassiopeiae is quoted at over 16,000 light years. See Wikipedia article for V762 Cassiopeiae under subheading "Distance and titleholding"

 

[Classical Motion]

I read somewhere that a gamma burst ~ 7 billion years out ~ could be seen with the naked eye.

I think it was on this site.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I would have liked to see something said about the ability to detect what lies between the farthest infrared object we have currently detected (z~14) and the microwave background.

 

[Classical Motion]

From what they say, the CMBR should be just a little older than those deep reds.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

But the whole evolution of galaxies from hydrogen atoms is theorized to have occurred between Z=14 (where we are seeing galaxies) and the CMBR. So, we need to be able to detect light energy between far infrared and microwave frequencies to image that occurring.

First question in my mind is whether there is any gap in our frequency detection capabilities?

Second question is how big does the telescope (radio of optical) need to be to image something the size of a galaxy at such distances?

 

[Classical Motion]

I don’t think it’s a gap in detection. I think it’s a gap in emission. The proportional population of sizes of objects. And the flux necessary for long distance illumination.

Supposition. Protons are the smallest structures, and therefore emit the highest frequencies. Hard gamma. If you believe in quirks, and a quirk soup igniting, that light would be much higher than any hard gamma we have measured.

By themselves, particles can only emit x-ray and gamma. The highest of the EM spectrum.

Dipoles and atoms can emit x-rays, UV, light, IR…...without destruction. Depending on the length of field from those charge structures. Charge length. Molecules can emit longer IR due to increased length. mm structures can emit mm frequencies. MW frequencies. Radio need larger structures.

The emitted spectrum tells you the length or dimension of the emitters. The intensity tells you the relative number of emitters.

Emitters of small lengths are much more popular than large structure emitters. I am referring to emitter size, not star size.

This is why we have our deep space EM spectrum.

But it’s only supposition based on my idea of light. Or any other EM.

And I am not aware of any deep space, all spectrum EM scans. It might be a rock concert.