Hubble Space Telescope breaks time/distance record

[Shaker]

... since that amounts to the same thing in this case:

https://goo.gl/E0b4iZ

By pushing NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to its limits, an international team of astronomers has shattered the cosmic distance record by measuring the farthest galaxy ever seen in the universe. This surprisingly bright infant galaxy, named GN-z11, is seen as it was 13.4 billion years in the past, just 400 million years after the Big Bang. GN-z11 is located in the direction of the constellation of Ursa Major.

[Sriram]

At how many times the speed of light has space expanded since the Big Bang? 

[Bubbles]

At how many times the speed of light has space expanded since the Big Bang?

If you can't go faster than light, then I guess it can only expand at that speed.

 

[BeRational]

At how many times the speed of light has space expanded since the Big Bang?

It may be expanding now faster than the speed of light.
Why does this matter as we know it is increasing and will eventually expand faster than light speed.

[Bubbles]

It may be expanding now faster than the speed of light.
Why does this matter as we know it is increasing and will eventually expand faster than light speed.

Will it?

I thought nothing could go faster than the speed of light.?

[BeRational]

Will it?

I thought nothing could go faster than the speed of light.?

Nothing can travel through space faster than that.

The expansion is not travelling through space and has no limit. In fact I do not think it has any speed to speak of as we define distance travelled in space in a given time. It is not travelling THROUGH space. It is making more space.

Some galaxies are travelling away from us FTL, but only due to expansion.

[Bubbles]

Nothing can travel through space faster than that.

The expansion is not travelling through space and has no limit. In fact I do not think it has any speed to speak of as we define distance travelled in space in a given time. It is not travelling THROUGH space. It is making more space.

Some galaxies are travelling away from us FTL, but only due to expansion.

Ok thanks 

[Sriram]

It may be expanding now faster than the speed of light.
Why does this matter as we know it is increasing and will eventually expand faster than light speed.

My point is that....at the time of the Big Bang, space was small. All the matter that now makes up the earth and sun and we humans etc. was present at that very spot (Singularity).  Over 13.7 billion years, space has expanded such that we are where we are now.  So...why should it take light emanating from the BB, 13.7 billions years to catch up with us?

[Jack Knave]

... since that amounts to the same thing in this case:

https://goo.gl/E0b4iZ

Was that enough time for a galaxy to form?

What would they do if they saw one 25 billion light years away?

[Shaker]

Was that enough time for a galaxy to form?

Yes.

What would they do if they saw one 25 billion light years away?

There would be a whole lot of rewriting of astrophysics and cosmology and Nobel Prizes dished out like Smarties

[splashscuba]

My point is that....at the time of the Big Bang, space was small. All the matter that now makes up the earth and sun and we humans etc. was present at that very spot (Singularity).  Over 13.7 billion years, space has expanded such that we are where we are now.  So...why should it take light emanating from the BB, 13.7 billions years to catch up with us?

That's due to inflation. It's only now that the light is catching up to us since inflation stopped. Inflation expanded the universe many times faster than the light could travel.

[Sriram]

That's due to inflation. It's only now that the light is catching up to us since inflation stopped. Inflation expanded the universe many times faster than the light could travel.

Thanks.... splashscuba!

[Leonard James]

That's due to inflation. It's only now that the light is catching up to us since inflation stopped. Inflation expanded the universe many times faster than the light could travel.

I find this very difficult to visualise, but it seems to indicate that the expansion of the universe is gradually slowing down and will eventually stop and start contracting. Is that the way it is?

[splashscuba]

I find this very difficult to visualise, but it seems to indicate that the expansion of the universe is gradually slowing down and will eventually stop and start contracting. Is that the way it is?

No. Looks like it's expanding at an ever increasing rate. See dark energy.

[Leonard James]

No. Looks like it's expanding at an ever increasing rate. See dark energy.

But you said inflation stopped. :-

"That's due to inflation. It's only now that the light is catching up to us since inflation stopped. Inflation expanded the universe many times faster than the light could travel."

? ? ?

[Shaker]

Two different things, Len. The inflationary era was a very, very, very brief period of incredibly rapid expansion at the birth of the universe which inflated it at a truly colossal rate, which quickly came to an end to leave behind the (comparatively speaking) rather more sedate expansion of space that we see now.

The Wikipedia page on inflation is a bit on the technical side; this is one of the simpler explanations if you feel like having a go: http://goo.gl/1evud8

[Leonard James]

Two different things, Len. The inflationary era was a very, very, very brief period of incredibly rapid expansion at the birth of the universe which inflated it at a truly colossal rate, which quickly came to an end to leave behind the (comparatively speaking) rather more sedate expansion of space that we see now.

? ? ?

So it initially expanded very fast, then slowed down allowing the original light to catch up with us, and then started to get faster again?

What on earth could make that happen?

[Shaker]

? ? ?

So it initially expanded very fast, then slowed down allowing the original light to catch up with us, and then started to get faster again?

What on earth could make that happen?

The expansion of the universe has been observed to be accelerating - nobody knows why. For the time being we have to use terms such as dark energy which are freely acknowledged to be placeholders for our current state of ignorance, until such a time as we get more data in.

[Leonard James]

The expansion of the universe has been observed to be accelerating - nobody knows why. For the time being we have to use terms such as dark energy which are freely acknowledged to be placeholders for our current state of ignorance, until such a time as we get more data in.

Oh dear, that sounds like encouragement for Alan! 

[BeRational]

Oh dear, that sounds like encouragement for Alan! 

Not really I thought this was common knowledge, but I accept that I take an interest in this sort of thing.
It seems that the acceleration will continue to increase and the universe will appear empty. Anyone around then to look in the night sky will see total blackness apart from the star that keeps them alive. All other galaxies will be so far away that light from them can NEVER reach them.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Not really I thought this was common knowledge, but I accept that I take an interest in this sort of thing.
It seems that the acceleration will continue to increase and the universe will appear empty. Anyone around then to look in the night sky will see total blackness apart from the star that keeps them alive. All other galaxies will be so far away that light from them can NEVER reach them.

Isn't the idea then is that the universe will be so large then a usually statistically improbable reversal in entropy becomes likely that a new big bang occurs?

[Leonard James]

Not really I thought this was common knowledge, but I accept that I take an interest in this sort of thing.
It seems that the acceleration will continue to increase and the universe will appear empty. Anyone around then to look in the night sky will see total blackness apart from the star that keeps them alive. All other galaxies will be so far away that light from them can NEVER reach them.

Curiouser and curiouser! I can run with the idea that the expansion is gradually slowing down (which seems logical to me) but speeding up - what on earth could be a theory to cover that?

[Shaker]

Curiouser and curiouser! I can run with the idea that the expansion is gradually slowing down (which seems logical to me) but speeding up - what on earth could be a theory to cover that?

We don't know! Dark energy has been hypothesised as a repulsive force driving the expansion faster. It's all we can do for the time being.

[Leonard James]

We don't know! Dark energy has been hypothesised as a repulsive force driving the expansion faster. It's all we can do for the time being.

A sort of anti-gravity?

[Shaker]

A sort of anti-gravity?

Well, sort of, very loosely speaking, insofar as it's proposed as a repulsive force a little like the poles of magnets.