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As Hubble Breaks a Distance Record, We Learn Its True Limits

Posted by Soulskill on from the still-can't-find-my-sunglasses dept.

StartsWithABang writes: You might think that, when it comes to finding the most distant objects in the Universe, all we need is a good telescope, to leave the shutter open, and wait. As we accumulate more and more photons, we're bound to find the most distant, faint objects out there. Sure, Hubble just broke its own cosmic distance record, but it's certainly not the most distant. Thinking so misses an important fact: the Universe is expanding! And with that expansion, the wavelength of the light we can see gets redshifted. Ultraviolet light winds up in the infrared, infrared light winds up in the microwave, and the most distant galaxies that are out there are invisible, even to Hubble. Here are Hubble's limits, and how the James Webb Space Telescope will overcome them.

2 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. an important fact! by Guildor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "an important fact: the Universe is expanding!" : Actually, this is not known, only theorized. It's based on the notion that red-shift / blue-shift relate to distance. But that's never been proven, and there are others out there that think it isn't about motion at all. Although we have a consensus opinion that uses it as fact, it isn't a proven fact.

  2. Emphasize the security aspect by tepples · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Then maybe you should promote these extensions to work's IT department as security tools, citing the use of Flash ads as drive-by Trojan droppers.