If the universe is 13 billion years old how do we have stars 45 billion light years from earth? Wouldn’t that light take 45 billion years to reach us?

Question

If the universe is 13 billion years old how do we have stars 45 billion light years from earth? Wouldn’t that light take 45 billion years to reach us?

In: Physics

Answer 1

The thing you have to keep in mind is that space isn’t finite, it’s expanding.

So the light has been traveling for 13 billion years to reach you, but in that time the distance between you and the source of that light has increased and stretched out.