Can we track matter through time by looking at different depths in space?

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If we look back far enough we can see all the origins of the universe, so is it possible, even if not feasible, that we could trace the history of some matter as it moves through space-time? I want to understand how looking at different depths in space and time are correlated in regards to the matter being observed.



For example would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up the Milky Way today? Then somehow follow it through space-time by looking at different depths and locations in space, and see how it came to be part of the Milky Way?










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    $begingroup$


    If we look back far enough we can see all the origins of the universe, so is it possible, even if not feasible, that we could trace the history of some matter as it moves through space-time? I want to understand how looking at different depths in space and time are correlated in regards to the matter being observed.



    For example would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up the Milky Way today? Then somehow follow it through space-time by looking at different depths and locations in space, and see how it came to be part of the Milky Way?










    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    dmoody256 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.







    $endgroup$















      4












      4








      4





      $begingroup$


      If we look back far enough we can see all the origins of the universe, so is it possible, even if not feasible, that we could trace the history of some matter as it moves through space-time? I want to understand how looking at different depths in space and time are correlated in regards to the matter being observed.



      For example would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up the Milky Way today? Then somehow follow it through space-time by looking at different depths and locations in space, and see how it came to be part of the Milky Way?










      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      dmoody256 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.







      $endgroup$




      If we look back far enough we can see all the origins of the universe, so is it possible, even if not feasible, that we could trace the history of some matter as it moves through space-time? I want to understand how looking at different depths in space and time are correlated in regards to the matter being observed.



      For example would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up the Milky Way today? Then somehow follow it through space-time by looking at different depths and locations in space, and see how it came to be part of the Milky Way?







      space-time cosmic-microwave-background






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          2 Answers
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          $begingroup$


          Would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and
          time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up
          the Milky Way today?




          No, that's not possible. If we could do that, it'd mean that the matter traveled from there to here faster than its light got here, and matter can't travel faster through space than light does.



          All we can do is look at similar galaxies to the Milky Way at earlier times. And because of the expansion of space those galaxies are now even further away from us than they were when they emitted the light that we're seeing now.



          Galaxies develop (mostly) in isolation from one another, apart from the occasional merger or collision between neighbouring galaxies. Intergalactic distances are fairly huge, so it takes vast amounts of time for matter to travel from one galaxy to another, and matter is mostly bound by gravity to the galaxy it's in. Galactic escape speeds are pretty high, although the occasional star does get flung out of the galaxy by cataclysmic events like supernova explosions. But even then, such rogue bodies mostly end up in intergalactic space. The odds of them ending up in a different galaxy are pretty slim.






          share|improve this answer











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          • 1




            $begingroup$
            Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            7 hours ago








          • 2




            $begingroup$
            It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
            $endgroup$
            – Ken G
            6 hours ago










          • $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
            $endgroup$
            – PM 2Ring
            6 hours ago










          • $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
            $endgroup$
            – Chappo
            4 hours ago












          • $begingroup$
            @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            3 hours ago



















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          $begingroup$

          You would have to catch up to the light that carries the information you seek. It's traveled for a few billion years at this point (Earth is ~4.3B). So, you could watch the formation of Earth (Milky Way, whatever), if you could instantly teleport billions of light years away from here.



          When we watch distant galaxies and starts, what we're seeing is "old" light. The events that we see occurred many years ago. If we see a galaxy forming, and that galaxy is 10 billion light years away, then that galaxy has already formed. Its configuration at this time is very different from what we see. In fact, some of its stars have already burned out. Similarly, if you lived in (or could instantly teleport to) that galaxy, you would see the Milky Way as it appeared 10B year ago.






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            2 Answers
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            2 Answers
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            5












            $begingroup$


            Would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and
            time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up
            the Milky Way today?




            No, that's not possible. If we could do that, it'd mean that the matter traveled from there to here faster than its light got here, and matter can't travel faster through space than light does.



            All we can do is look at similar galaxies to the Milky Way at earlier times. And because of the expansion of space those galaxies are now even further away from us than they were when they emitted the light that we're seeing now.



            Galaxies develop (mostly) in isolation from one another, apart from the occasional merger or collision between neighbouring galaxies. Intergalactic distances are fairly huge, so it takes vast amounts of time for matter to travel from one galaxy to another, and matter is mostly bound by gravity to the galaxy it's in. Galactic escape speeds are pretty high, although the occasional star does get flung out of the galaxy by cataclysmic events like supernova explosions. But even then, such rogue bodies mostly end up in intergalactic space. The odds of them ending up in a different galaxy are pretty slim.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$









            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              7 hours ago








            • 2




              $begingroup$
              It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
              $endgroup$
              – Ken G
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
              $endgroup$
              – PM 2Ring
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
              $endgroup$
              – Chappo
              4 hours ago












            • $begingroup$
              @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              3 hours ago
















            5












            $begingroup$


            Would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and
            time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up
            the Milky Way today?




            No, that's not possible. If we could do that, it'd mean that the matter traveled from there to here faster than its light got here, and matter can't travel faster through space than light does.



            All we can do is look at similar galaxies to the Milky Way at earlier times. And because of the expansion of space those galaxies are now even further away from us than they were when they emitted the light that we're seeing now.



            Galaxies develop (mostly) in isolation from one another, apart from the occasional merger or collision between neighbouring galaxies. Intergalactic distances are fairly huge, so it takes vast amounts of time for matter to travel from one galaxy to another, and matter is mostly bound by gravity to the galaxy it's in. Galactic escape speeds are pretty high, although the occasional star does get flung out of the galaxy by cataclysmic events like supernova explosions. But even then, such rogue bodies mostly end up in intergalactic space. The odds of them ending up in a different galaxy are pretty slim.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$









            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              7 hours ago








            • 2




              $begingroup$
              It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
              $endgroup$
              – Ken G
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
              $endgroup$
              – PM 2Ring
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
              $endgroup$
              – Chappo
              4 hours ago












            • $begingroup$
              @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              3 hours ago














            5












            5








            5





            $begingroup$


            Would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and
            time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up
            the Milky Way today?




            No, that's not possible. If we could do that, it'd mean that the matter traveled from there to here faster than its light got here, and matter can't travel faster through space than light does.



            All we can do is look at similar galaxies to the Milky Way at earlier times. And because of the expansion of space those galaxies are now even further away from us than they were when they emitted the light that we're seeing now.



            Galaxies develop (mostly) in isolation from one another, apart from the occasional merger or collision between neighbouring galaxies. Intergalactic distances are fairly huge, so it takes vast amounts of time for matter to travel from one galaxy to another, and matter is mostly bound by gravity to the galaxy it's in. Galactic escape speeds are pretty high, although the occasional star does get flung out of the galaxy by cataclysmic events like supernova explosions. But even then, such rogue bodies mostly end up in intergalactic space. The odds of them ending up in a different galaxy are pretty slim.






            share|improve this answer











            $endgroup$




            Would it be possible to look deep into a certain part of space and
            time to find some galaxy that contributed to the matter that makes up
            the Milky Way today?




            No, that's not possible. If we could do that, it'd mean that the matter traveled from there to here faster than its light got here, and matter can't travel faster through space than light does.



            All we can do is look at similar galaxies to the Milky Way at earlier times. And because of the expansion of space those galaxies are now even further away from us than they were when they emitted the light that we're seeing now.



            Galaxies develop (mostly) in isolation from one another, apart from the occasional merger or collision between neighbouring galaxies. Intergalactic distances are fairly huge, so it takes vast amounts of time for matter to travel from one galaxy to another, and matter is mostly bound by gravity to the galaxy it's in. Galactic escape speeds are pretty high, although the occasional star does get flung out of the galaxy by cataclysmic events like supernova explosions. But even then, such rogue bodies mostly end up in intergalactic space. The odds of them ending up in a different galaxy are pretty slim.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited 7 hours ago

























            answered 7 hours ago









            PM 2RingPM 2Ring

            943410




            943410








            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              7 hours ago








            • 2




              $begingroup$
              It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
              $endgroup$
              – Ken G
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
              $endgroup$
              – PM 2Ring
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
              $endgroup$
              – Chappo
              4 hours ago












            • $begingroup$
              @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              3 hours ago














            • 1




              $begingroup$
              Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              7 hours ago








            • 2




              $begingroup$
              It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
              $endgroup$
              – Ken G
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
              $endgroup$
              – PM 2Ring
              6 hours ago










            • $begingroup$
              @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
              $endgroup$
              – Chappo
              4 hours ago












            • $begingroup$
              @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
              $endgroup$
              – dmoody256
              3 hours ago








            1




            1




            $begingroup$
            Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            7 hours ago






            $begingroup$
            Milky Way was one example, but my question is more generally, what about other matter? Could we track the formation of a given galaxy through time by looking at different spots and depths in space? And regards to your answer of No for the Milky Way, can we not see the origin of all matter in the CMB, including the matter (or maybe energy) that our Milky Way originated from?
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            7 hours ago






            2




            2




            $begingroup$
            It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
            $endgroup$
            – Ken G
            6 hours ago




            $begingroup$
            It's the same answer-- you are asking if light from the same object emitted at two different times for that object can be seen by us at the same time. That would require that the object move with its light, i.e., move as fast as the speed of light. Instead, if we watch for ten years, all we can see is the life of that object for a similar timeframe. In fact, objects in the past look like time is going by slowly for them, so you'd end up seeing less than ten years in the life of the object.
            $endgroup$
            – Ken G
            6 hours ago












            $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
            $endgroup$
            – PM 2Ring
            6 hours ago




            $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 What Ken G said. The CMB shows us what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago, but it doesn't show us the ancient history of right here, it shows us the similar ancient history of places that are now 46 billion lightyears away from the Milky Way.
            $endgroup$
            – PM 2Ring
            6 hours ago












            $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
            $endgroup$
            – Chappo
            4 hours ago






            $begingroup$
            @dmoody256 I think the confusion arises because the more distant something is, the older the light we receive from it. But we only receive the light from an object once, not as a series of snapshots over time and distance. The CMB, for example, was emitted from matter 13.8b years ago, but we can’t see that same matter at an earlier or later time - that would mean there are multiple copies of the same matter or that the matter moves around the Universe faster than light. The matter in our galaxy doesn’t also exist somewhere else at an earlier time.
            $endgroup$
            – Chappo
            4 hours ago














            $begingroup$
            @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            3 hours ago




            $begingroup$
            @Chappo I was under the assumption that the CMB we see today was all matter/energy shortly after the Bing Bang. So therefore we could see the same matter at that time and now when you look out at the Milky Way, and other depths of space. I'm thinking my assumption about CMB being all encompassing was wrong, but I'm looking into it a bit more.
            $endgroup$
            – dmoody256
            3 hours ago











            0












            $begingroup$

            You would have to catch up to the light that carries the information you seek. It's traveled for a few billion years at this point (Earth is ~4.3B). So, you could watch the formation of Earth (Milky Way, whatever), if you could instantly teleport billions of light years away from here.



            When we watch distant galaxies and starts, what we're seeing is "old" light. The events that we see occurred many years ago. If we see a galaxy forming, and that galaxy is 10 billion light years away, then that galaxy has already formed. Its configuration at this time is very different from what we see. In fact, some of its stars have already burned out. Similarly, if you lived in (or could instantly teleport to) that galaxy, you would see the Milky Way as it appeared 10B year ago.






            share|improve this answer








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            $endgroup$


















              0












              $begingroup$

              You would have to catch up to the light that carries the information you seek. It's traveled for a few billion years at this point (Earth is ~4.3B). So, you could watch the formation of Earth (Milky Way, whatever), if you could instantly teleport billions of light years away from here.



              When we watch distant galaxies and starts, what we're seeing is "old" light. The events that we see occurred many years ago. If we see a galaxy forming, and that galaxy is 10 billion light years away, then that galaxy has already formed. Its configuration at this time is very different from what we see. In fact, some of its stars have already burned out. Similarly, if you lived in (or could instantly teleport to) that galaxy, you would see the Milky Way as it appeared 10B year ago.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Tim is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.






              $endgroup$
















                0












                0








                0





                $begingroup$

                You would have to catch up to the light that carries the information you seek. It's traveled for a few billion years at this point (Earth is ~4.3B). So, you could watch the formation of Earth (Milky Way, whatever), if you could instantly teleport billions of light years away from here.



                When we watch distant galaxies and starts, what we're seeing is "old" light. The events that we see occurred many years ago. If we see a galaxy forming, and that galaxy is 10 billion light years away, then that galaxy has already formed. Its configuration at this time is very different from what we see. In fact, some of its stars have already burned out. Similarly, if you lived in (or could instantly teleport to) that galaxy, you would see the Milky Way as it appeared 10B year ago.






                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                Tim is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.






                $endgroup$



                You would have to catch up to the light that carries the information you seek. It's traveled for a few billion years at this point (Earth is ~4.3B). So, you could watch the formation of Earth (Milky Way, whatever), if you could instantly teleport billions of light years away from here.



                When we watch distant galaxies and starts, what we're seeing is "old" light. The events that we see occurred many years ago. If we see a galaxy forming, and that galaxy is 10 billion light years away, then that galaxy has already formed. Its configuration at this time is very different from what we see. In fact, some of its stars have already burned out. Similarly, if you lived in (or could instantly teleport to) that galaxy, you would see the Milky Way as it appeared 10B year ago.







                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                Tim is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer






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                answered 3 hours ago









                TimTim

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