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Skiessa
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- TL;DR Summary
- If the furthest quasars we can see are lets say 13 billion light years away from us, then does this mean that the distance between us and that quasar was 13 billion light years at 13 billion years ago?
Summary: If the furthest quasars we can see are let's say 13 billion light years away from us, then does this mean that the distance between us and that quasar was 13 billion light years at 13 billion years ago?
To anyone educated in physics this might be a silly question but to me this is quite confusing, since the interpretations of the light speed constant and of what it says about the data we receive from the distant objects vary so much among non-educated people.
one common conception is that 13 billion years ago we were merged with the quasar, and that should at least be wrong, right? that would mean that we would have seen the light radiated by the quasar already 13 billion years ago, right?
some say that 13 billion years ago both we and the quasar were in completely different positions and that neither of our positions cannot be defined from the light we see from the quasar today, but that's also wrong, right?
but if our universe was 13 billion years ago at least big enough for us to be 13 billion LY away from the quasar already, and the universe has been expanding past-light speed ever since, it means that it must be freaking colossal today, right? if so, is there any way that we can measure of how big the universe was 13 billion years ago?
To anyone educated in physics this might be a silly question but to me this is quite confusing, since the interpretations of the light speed constant and of what it says about the data we receive from the distant objects vary so much among non-educated people.
one common conception is that 13 billion years ago we were merged with the quasar, and that should at least be wrong, right? that would mean that we would have seen the light radiated by the quasar already 13 billion years ago, right?
some say that 13 billion years ago both we and the quasar were in completely different positions and that neither of our positions cannot be defined from the light we see from the quasar today, but that's also wrong, right?
but if our universe was 13 billion years ago at least big enough for us to be 13 billion LY away from the quasar already, and the universe has been expanding past-light speed ever since, it means that it must be freaking colossal today, right? if so, is there any way that we can measure of how big the universe was 13 billion years ago?