Re: Old Stars

[roger haar <haar@soliton.physics.arizona.edu>]

Hi,

	The extreme case of the original question is the microwave blackbody
radiation left over from the big bang.  If this light was produced a few 
hours ( or minutes ) after the bang, why did it take so long to get here?

	Light presently seen from distant quasars is believed to be from 
the first billion years ( or maybe 10's of millions of years) of the 
universes life. 

	I think that the answer is in general relativistic effects.

Thanks	
Roger Haar U of AZ

**********************************************************

On Sun, 7 Jul 1996, Rick & Bea Tarara wrote:

> My answer--quite possibly wrong--is that  we now see the light from
> those 'early stars' but from their elderly years.  That is, if the
> star is 5 billion light years away, the light we see is 5 billion
> years old, but if the star was born near the beginning of the universe
> then the star was already about 10 billion years old when it produced
> the light we now see and is 15 billion years old at the time we see
> the light.  It may well not exist anymore as a 'shining' star.
>
> The question that Jim has raised (seeing objects that supposedly
> haven't existed for say 10 billion years but are only 5 billion light
> years away) is more intesting, but I don't know if his scenario is
> real.  Do we actually 'see' such objects?
>
> Rick
>
>
> -- 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Richard W. Tarara
> Department of Chemistry & Physics	Free Physics & Energy Instructional 
> Software
> Saint Mary's College			available at:	
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
> 219-284-4664				http://estel.uindy.edu/aapt/rickt/software/
> rtarara@saintmarys.edu
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
> ----------
> > From: David J. Abineri <dabineri@TSO.Cin.IX.net>
> snip
> > Now, my question is, how can that life form ever hope to capture any
> of the
> > light from that early star. If it is able to, then that must mean
> that the
> > materials from which earth is formed, which also originated with the
> big
> > bang (although were parts of other stars and planets before coming
> together
> > as our solar system) must have traveled faster than light in order
> to have
> > arrived HERE before the light that we now observe from that early
> star
> > which is only just arriving now!
> snip
> > What am I and my students missing here?? Thanks for your collective
> help.
> > David Abineri