If the universe is 13.8 billion years old, how can we see things 28 billion light-years from us? Doesn’t seem like there is enough time for the light to reach us.
In: 45
You can see things that is 28 billion light-years from us today.
That does not mean that it was at that distance when the light we see today was emitted, The universe is expanding so distances between galaxies get larger.
The galaxy [GN-z11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GN-z11) is 32 billion light-years for us today. The light we can see was emitted 13.4 billion years ago, so it has traveled 13.4 billion light-years.
But GN-z11 was only 2.66 billion light-years from us when the light was emitted. The universe has expanded when the light was traveling to us and its path became 13.4 billion light-years long.
So there is a difference between how far away it is today, how far the light has traveled, and how far away it was when the light was emitted. This is all a result of the expansion of the universe.
Light emitted now at 32 billion light-years will never reach us. The expansion of the universe in between is faster than the speed of light.
It is important to remember that the expansion of the universe does not mean the galaxy moving away from us, it is the space in between that gets large. that is something that happens everywhere and at a long distance, the expansion of what is in between can be faster than the speed of light.
It is hard to wrap your head around because it is not like anything that we as humans observe around us without accurate measurement of stuff very far away,
Latest Answers