james bond
Gold Member
- Oct 17, 2015
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Our visibility horizon is about 14 billion light years away. Remnants from earlier than that are in the CMBR (Cosmic Microwave Background radiation) which we know more about since the WMAP data was studied.
The 14 billion light years away is misleading. It isn't a straight line when space and time are involved and we are discussing at the speed of light or close to it speeds. For example, one example I gave was that traveling from SF to NYC at the speed of light is instantaneous vs over four hours by jet. Now if you go out into space (hypothetical), then one person on the light speeder will age far less than the person in the jet. So, which time or age is correct?
When we are traveling farther distances at the speed of light, then we have to adjust for the other factors involved. We do not know what those other factors are as we do not know what is causing the universe to expand and how it is affecting what we see. We do not know what the universe in between is made of. Thus, what we see through our telescopes is only a snapshot in time. We are not accounting for the time dilation, but assuming if we travel from where we are to the object we are looking at, then it is 14 billion light years away. I have problems with one discussing billions of years in a space time continuum.
I think the best we can do is limit the distances and then we can calculate more accurately the space and time. Then we can actually travel there even at near speed of light. Things beyond this space and distance will not be able to be calculated with what we know today. Maybe sometime in the future.