Oldest, Most distant Object in Universe Observed

[Argus Skyhawk]

From http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/weirdnews/fulltext?cid=216251

Astronomers at NASA say a stellar explosion has provided a glimpse of the oldest and most distant object in the universe.

They announced Tuesday that the ten-second gamma-ray burst observed last Thursday is from a star that died when the universe was only 630-million years old.

The distance was 13-point-one billion light-years away. That surpassed old records by 100 or 200 million light-years.

I first heard about this on NPR.

 

[scotthm]

Astronomers at NASA say a stellar explosion has provided a glimpse of the oldest and most distant object in the universe.
...
The distance was 13-point-one billion light-years away. That surpassed old records by 100 or 200 million light-years.

That's no older than our own Milky Way galaxy, and perhaps not as old.

It is extremely difficult to define the age at which the Milky Way formed, but the age of the oldest star in the Galaxy yet discovered, HE 1523-0901, is estimated to be about 13.2 billion years, nearly as old as the Universe itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

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[Squiggy]

This IS the oldest object viewed though since we can only look back 100,000 years or so looking at the opposite side of the galaxy. This new image is a snapshot from 13,100,000,000 years ago, ergo the "oldest" title.

Speed of light and all.

 

[Trekker4747]

Considering how we view objects in space wouldn't the most distant one almost by definition have to be the oldest?

 

[Vulcan Princess]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Squiggy]

Considering how we view objects in space wouldn't the most distant one almost by definition have to be the oldest?

Yes.

 

[scotthm]

This IS the oldest object viewed though since we can only look back 100,000 years or so looking at the opposite side of the galaxy. This new image is a snapshot from 13,100,000,000 years ago, ergo the "oldest" title.

Actually, we're seeing it as it was in the distant past, i.e. very young. What we see when we look into the distant cosmos are relatively young objects.

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[Squiggy]

That's what I said.

 

[scotthm]

That's what I said.

You said "oldest", but what you meant was "most ancient".

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[Butters]

Considering how we view objects in space wouldn't the most distant one almost by definition have to be the oldest?

Wouldn't it be the youngest object if its the furthest back in time? Just a few hundred million years after the big bang. Closer objects must have aged considerably more as we are seeing them later in their development.

Just saying.

 

[Squiggy]

That's what I said.

You said "oldest", but what you meant was "most ancient".

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Fair enough.

 

[Amaris]

From http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/weirdnews/fulltext?cid=216251

Astronomers at NASA say a stellar explosion has provided a glimpse of the oldest and most distant object in the universe.

They announced Tuesday that the ten-second gamma-ray burst observed last Thursday is from a star that died when the universe was only 630-million years old.

The distance was 13-point-one billion light-years away. That surpassed old records by 100 or 200 million light-years.

I first heard about this on NPR.

I kid, I kid.

This is truly fascinating. I do wonder though. The universe expands and is 14 billion years old. Is there an estimated point where the universe will start contracting, or is it still expanding at a rapid rate?

J.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

You said "oldest", but what you meant was "most ancient".

Wow. Talk about nitpicking.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

This is truly fascinating. I do wonder though. The universe expands and is 14 billion years old. Is there an estimated point where the universe will start contracting, or is it still expanding at a rapid rate?

The latest reckoning is that the expansion in accelerating due to so-called dark energy, which may mean that everything gets torn asunder in the "big rip". One estimate for our demise is in 50 billion years time -- sooner than heat death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_rip

 

[scotthm]

You said "oldest", but what you meant was "most ancient".

Wow. Talk about nitpicking.

It's not nitpicking.

Oldest implies that the object is old, but in fact the object being seen is (relatively) young. However, it is in fact a young object from an ancient time, therefore it can be ancient and not old.

The fact is, that particular object may not even exist any longer, due to interactions with nearby galaxies, and may not have survived intact to a ripe old age.

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[Candlelight]

That looks nothing like William Shatner.

 

[Squiggy]

From http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/weirdnews/fulltext?cid=216251

Astronomers at NASA say a stellar explosion has provided a glimpse of the oldest and most distant object in the universe.

They announced Tuesday that the ten-second gamma-ray burst observed last Thursday is from a star that died when the universe was only 630-million years old.

The distance was 13-point-one billion light-years away. That surpassed old records by 100 or 200 million light-years.

I first heard about this on NPR.

I kid, I kid.

You win!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That looks nothing like William Shatner.

That's because you've never seen him without his toupee.

 

[Ariadne]

You said "oldest", but what you meant was "most ancient".

Wow. Talk about nitpicking.

It's not nitpicking.

Oldest implies that the object is old, but in fact the object being seen is (relatively) young. However, it is in fact a young object from an ancient time, therefore it can be ancient and not old.

The fact is, that particular object may not even exist any longer, due to interactions with nearby galaxies, and may not have survived intact to a ripe old age.

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Well, it was a gamma-ray burst from a dying star... so, no, it doesn't exist any more.

 

[urbandk]

OK Back on topic... I wonder if the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to observe older objects.