Looking into the Past... | Page 1 | General Astronomy Topics | Guild Forums

Eruditio
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 12:24 pm

Any image taken of a deep-space object is seen as it was sometime in the past - we see the Sun as it was 8.3 minutes ago and the nearest other star as it was 4 YEARS ago. The farthest galaxies ever observed were formed just 800 million years after the Big Bang so that would mean we are looking about 13 billion years into the past...

Does anyone know the implications of this? What can we learn from this?

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:30 pm

Implications are that the further out we look, the further back in time. We can use this to help trace chemical evolution of the universe. We can also use it to help figure out what the conditions of the early universe were like (ie, did massive stars form that we no longer have the raw materials for?)

VoijaRisa

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AstronomyGirl

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Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 7:47 am

VoijaRisa

Implications are that the further out we look, the further back in time. We can use this to help trace chemical evolution of the universe. We can also use it to help figure out what the conditions of the early universe were like (ie, did massive stars form that we no longer have the raw materials for?)

Yea, those are the main reasons that I can think of as well. It's nice that farther objects are farther back in time. We get to see the history of the universe and we don't even need a time machine.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:21 am

I believe looking into the past is useful. It's an incredibly easy way to look into things, but also it's beneficial.

If we look in to the past, we can study what patterns are happening, and "forecast" things that will happen in the future. Just like what historians do with history. When the Romans tried to take over land, they took over too much, and it was getting to the extent where things got out of hand and they experienced complications. This seemed to repeat itself, when England tried to rule the America's. It was too much land to focus on, and it didn't work out.

Does anyone get the general idea of this?

Chibi Nicole

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astronomer14

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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:23 pm

Here's an idea. Send a probe equipped with a really good telescope at a speed faster than light, out far into space and then look back at Earth in the past. You could see the dinosaurs!

Ok I know it would be impossible but still. If you looked at Mars you might see oceans! I'm just dreaming biggrin

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