Hubble Discovers Ancient Galaxy Far, Far Away

[naomi24]

For anyone interested.

//"The discovery of GN-z11 shows us that our knowledge about the early Universe is still very restricted. Probably we are seeing the first generations of stars forming around black holes?"//

http://news.sky.com/story/1653121/hubble-discovers-ancient-galaxy-far-far-away

[VHG]

So glad I know that.

Will knowing that get rid of my cold I have had for a week, or clear our national debt, or find a cure for cancer, or solve the problems in Syria?

[douglas9401]

Can't be long till we see the fence round god's garden then. Hope he's kept the place tidy.

[naomi24]

VHG, charming! Hope your cold soon goes - it might cheer you up a bit.

[douglas9401]

Astronomers rarely find their work crossing over into oncology and other medical fields, VHG.
They may take an interest but will know their limitations, input wise.
After all, they're not politicians.

[jim360]

It's not, strictly speaking, the furthest back in time that we've ever seen (at least, I don't think so -- my understanding was that the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation holds that record). That pedantic point aside, though, it's still a remarkable achievement and hopefully the next generation of observatories will continue to push back the limits of astronomy. I think seeing this galaxy is closer to discovering your first dinosaur fossil if all you'd previously seen of life on earth was sea life in the ancient Cambrian oceans -- ie no less impressive, arguably more so.

We have an odd understanding of the history of our Universe. Starting from the Big Bang, we can only speculate about what came "before" it, and in the first tiny fraction of a second or so, then we (think we) know what went on in the next few seconds, then for a couple of hundred thousand years it's all blank again (at least experimentally), then again a weird spike of information, and then another gap, and so on... so much room to fill for understanding. The state of the Universe after CMB but before "normal" galaxy formation is one of the larger gaps and one that this goes some way towards filling.

[Old_Geezer]

Will solving problems in Syria cure the common cold ? Will curing cancer solve our national debt ?

It'd be interesting to see a picture. Is it more than a bright pixel on the screen ?

[Old_Geezer]

Will solving problems in Syria cure the common cold ? Will curing cancer solve our national debt ?

It'd be interesting to see a picture. Is it more than a bright pixel on the screen ?

[Old_Geezer]

Didn't even press the retry button that time. Posted twice all by itself. Wonder if it'll do the same again ?

[jomifl]

VHG if we only spent a tenth of the money we spend on smart phones cosmetics and computer games we would probably find a cure for everything.

[whiskeryron]

naomi, when I first spotted your post I thought it read ''Hubbie discovers'' What a letdown.

[naomi24]

Sorry Ron. Next time perhaps - but not in Science. ;o)

[Bazile]

//It is so far away that the light from this extremely faint collection of stars, catalogued as GN-z11, has taken some 13.4 billion years to reach us.//

Will someone explain what exactly it means by 'it has taken 13.4 billion years to reach us '

[naomi24]

Bazile, I assume that means the light from it has taken 13.4 billion years to reach us.

[Old_Geezer]

The light was emitted 13.4 billion years ago, measured in our time frame, and during that time has travelled the distance from where it started out, to here.

[Bazile]

naomi24

Indeed so .

However what i'm getting at is that the universe did not come into existence at it's current size , with us being at point A, 13 billion miles from point B , where this galaxy is ( if you see what i mean )

[naomi24]

Bazile, I do see what you mean but there is no point A or point B. The universe didn't form at any one point. Hopefully Mibn2cweus will be along at some time. He's much better at explaining it than I am.

[Old_Geezer]

But space is continually being created between points so you have to subtract from light speed the effect of the growing distance between objects. It's still taken that time to complete the journey from our point of view.

[Hypognosis]

@Bazile

//
However what i'm getting at is that the universe did not come into existence at it's current size , with us being at point A, 13 billion miles from point B , where this galaxy is ( if you see what i mean )
//

I think you wrote "miles" unintentionally and meant "light years"?

I think it is best to picture the photons as like a person running along a near-light-speed travellator, running in the opposite direction to its travel to us.

From a frame of reference sideways on, it would procede at a crawl but that's a conceptual cheat on my part. Space is stretching in such a way that this wouldn't be perceptible.

Besides, you can't see photons from side-on.

[jomifl]

/you can't see photons from side-on./
you can't see photons but you can see with them.