Cosmic Distance Record 'Broken' , Huge Star Explosion 520 million Years after the Big Bang

Wow , I just came across this story and thought it was worthy of posting here , talk about looking back in time

A cataclysmic explosion of a huge star near the edge of the observable Universe may be the most distant single object yet spied by a telescope. Scientists believe the blast, which was detected by Nasa's Swift space observatory, occurred a mere 520 million years after the Big Bang.

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"By finding the most distant objects we get an estimate, of course, of when the first objects formed," he told BBC News. "But then if you can find a location on the sky - in this case of a single star - you can go and look for the galaxy this object is presumably in, and you can start to study the very first galaxies.

Observations made at longer wavelengths - as in this infrared image of GRB 090429B taken by the Gemini North Telescope - are used to work out the distance

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www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by gortex

It's amazing.
Almost like looking into the past.

I wonder how much further it goes. I mean it has to have a start...somewhere

Who said time travel was impossible!?

reply to post by DrakeDarc


I guess that depends on which theory you subscribe to , the Big bang , the Infinite Universe theory or one of the others .
Big Bang just doesn't do it for me , it seems like an easy fix for a complex question

Originally posted by BlackPoison94
Who said time travel was impossible!?

Well, We aren't really traveling time.
The explosion is.

I DO believe in time travel though.


PS. Big Bang by Divine Intervention.

reply to post by goos3


Technically we are always looking into the past since it takes a while for the light to reflect from an object into your eye causing you to see things. And that is why we are "Time Travelling" because light has to travel as well.

Originally posted by goos3
It's amazing.
Almost like looking into the past.

I'm not sure why you say almost. It seems to me like it IS looking into the past.

And yes, it's amazing. I knew galaxies this far away had been seen, but this is the first I heard of a star that far away.

reply to post by gortex


This stuff is fascinating but really, how the hell can they say this,

Explosion 520 million Years after the Big Bang

I think these scientists try to pretend they know more than they actually do IMO...

reply to post by gortex


Load of BS. The universe will grow infinitely as does our understanding of the universe. If they look within themselves they will see further then ANY telescope will EVER have the ability to do so outwardly.

Originally posted by backinblack
I think these scientists try to pretend they know more than they actually do IMO...

If your point is they don't know it that precisely, I'd agree.

If your point is they don't have any idea how old it is, I'd disagree.

Here's an article showing age determination using 6 different methods, and they all fall within the same ballpark, but it doesn't look very precise.

www.astro.ucla.edu...

Then there's the WMAP data that claims to have +/- 1% accuracy but I'm not so sure about that:

map.gsfc.nasa.gov...

If all the assumptions are correct that may be true, but I'm not sure all the assumptions are correct.

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by gortex

 

This stuff is fascinating but really, how the hell can they say this,

Explosion 520 million Years after the Big Bang

I think these scientists try to pretend they know more than they actually do IMO...

I agree.

If we try to look into a very small space with a microscope, the wavelength of the light will be too large as we get smaller and smaller and we will detect an 'edge'.

If we try to look into a very large space with a telescope, the wavelength of the light will be too stretched as we look further and further away and we will detect an 'edge'.

Are these two the same?

Originally posted by gortex
reply to post by DrakeDarc

 

I guess that depends on which theory you subscribe to , the Big bang , the Infinite Universe theory or one of the others .
Big Bang just doesn't do it for me , it seems like an easy fix for a complex question

I agree mate-The idea that all matter in the universe came from an explosion...Hmmm,something must have been there to cause the explosion,but the BBT says there was nothing,not even time or space...
Nope,sorry I just can't wrap my head around that one.

I think its more likely that we are a miniscule part of a cell of some gigantic beast that has its own universe,ad infinitum

I hope we one day get to see back that last 520million years to when the BB was supposed to happen-maybe they would find a giant glass wall,with huge scientist types peering through at their creation...

Question-If they get back to The BB,does that mean that there is at least that many light years in the same direction after the BB point?
(As an explosion goes outwards in all directions.)
It should mean that I think-if it doesn't work like that-say there is no matter at all on the other side of the BB point,then there was never any big bang.
Be nice to find out in our lifetimes.