Re: A Little Astronomy Question

["Paul Camp" <pjcamp@coastal.edu>]

Not much. Before you could see to the Hubble Distance, you would 
reach a distance corresponding to the time at which atoms formed 
(~1000 years or so into the expansion). At that time, the universe 
was not transparent to radiation so you couldn't in principle see any 
further.

Of course, it was considerably after that time (about a million to a 
billion years into the expansion) that any objects such a s galaxies 
formed that you would be able to look at. Radiation from them would 
be pretty severely red shifted too so you would probably be better 
off looking in IR or radio.

Interestingly, you can actually see further than the Hubble already 
though you have to do it in microwaves mostly. The cosmic background 
radiation dates from the time at which matter and radiation decoupled 
and the universe became transparent so in principle we already 
observe all the way to the end of the radiation era.

Of course, if you want to know what is "beyond the edge," that is a 
whole other question.


> I have tried to ask this question before but
> never received a satisfactory answer.  The question specifically is about
> what we can see with telescopes. I have read that the Hubble's range is
> billions of light years (true?). I also remember that the estimated age of
> the universe is ~15 billion years (true? - I know it's a rough estimate).
> My specific question is - what will we see if we could build a telescope
> that could see 15 billion light years away?
>
> Ron Michalak

Paul J. Camp                   "The Beauty of the Universe
Assistant Professor of Physics  consists not only of unity
Coastal Carolina University     in variety but also of 
Conway, SC   29528              variety in unity.
pjcamp@csd1.coastal.edu             --Umberto Eco
pjcamp@postoffice.worldnet.att.net    The Name of the Rose
(803)349-2227                         
fax: (803)349-2926