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Astronomers Find Stars 7 Billion Light Years Away
StArSkY writes "The Age has an article about an international team of astronomers that has discovered 14 galaxies, opening up a new era of 'galaxy hunting'. Using an infrared instrument in Chile (the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope ) — the researchers have been able to look through the glare of 20 Quasar's to identify previously obscured galaxies. 'Light from the newly found galaxies comes from the time the universe was about 6 billion years old, less than half its current age. By studying the light, the researchers have determined they are starburst galaxies that form lots of new stars -- the equivalent of 20 suns a year. Dr Murphy, who began working on the project while a research fellow at the University of Cambridge, described the results as a great leap forward. The findings have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. '"
I remember reading about star-making galaxies and how the stresses of gravity were used to "tear" space apart and create matter from the resulting energy differential. I wonder if that's similar to these starburst galaxies.
Wouldn't it be nice to live longer than our measly 70-90 years and be able to watch the progression of our knowledge? Reading this kind of article always makes me regret that I was perhaps born this early in humanity's history.
The real story is that these galaxies were in front of quasars and the infrared technique has now allowed observation of them.
But quasars cover only a very small part of the sky. It's like moving a dead cockroach that's under the couch to reveal more dust, just like the rest of the dust on the couch. But its just regular dust.
Table-ized A.I.
It's not clear that we could catch up to them. Depending on the future expansion rate of the universe, in 7 billion years they could be moving away fast enough that we could never "catch up".
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I disagree somewhat with the statement that "it isn't even about right or wrong". That is true in the moral sense, but not in the sense of "Are we right about how this works, or not?"
Some years ago, Isaac Asimov wrote a short book titled "The Relativity of Wrong". It is an excellent book, highly recommended reading. In it, he describes how someone lectured him on how little we understand about the universe. This was his reply:
"... when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
So maybe we do not have all the answers. And the answers we do have, in an absolute sense, may not turn out to be "right" in the long run. But as we learn more, every year, they become less wrong than before...
In case I did not make the point adequately, here is a link to an excerpt from the book:
http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm