Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#2NASA is making a lot of "record-breaking" news in the past few weeks and it is increasingly difficult for me to think how these news affect me and my relationship to the Galaxy. I understood many of these discoveries translated to "current science could be wrong". But if counting stars isn't my hobby, what am I supposed to take a way from this and digest the meaning of 11.1B light years distance?
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#3NASA is making a lot of "record-breaking" news in the past few weeks and it is increasingly difficult for me to think how these news affect me and my relationship to the Galaxy. I understood many of these discoveries translated to "current science could be wrong". But if counting stars isn't my hobby, what am I supposed to take a way from this and digest the meaning of 11.1B light years distance?
It pushed the earliest formation of such clusters ~700 million years further towards the Big Bang and adds to the mystery how such clusters could exist so early in the universe. We currently have no good answer for this question. From the abstract of the paper:
The large integrated stellar mass at such high redshift
challenges our understanding of massive cluster formation.
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#4NASA is making a lot of "record-breaking" news in the past few weeks and it is increasingly difficult for me to think how these news affect me and my relationship to the Galaxy. I understood many of these discoveries translated to "current science could be wrong". But if counting stars isn't my hobby, what am I supposed to take a way from this and digest the meaning of 11.1B light years distance?
Allow me to be the devil's advocate here:
Why should we think its about any of us? Why not for human kind? Its one small observation for a man but one huge observation for mankind. :)
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#5NASA is making a lot of "record-breaking" news in the past few weeks and it is increasingly difficult for me to think how these news affect me and my relationship to the Galaxy. I understood many of these discoveries translated to "current science could be wrong". But if counting stars isn't my hobby, what am I supposed to take a way from this and digest the meaning of 11.1B light years distance?
The opening line tells it all for you:
"A new record for the most distant galaxy cluster has been set".
For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_distant_astro...
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#6As our instruments get better, are we going to find these clusters further and further out until we hit the supposed age of the universe @ 13.7B years? Then what? When do we start thinking that maybe the models are potentially wrong?
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#7As our instruments get better, are we going to find these clusters further and further out until we hit the supposed age of the universe @ 13.7B years? Then what? When do we start thinking that maybe the models are potentially wrong?
When we have evidence to the contrary. Speculation about what we might find in the future doesn't change anything.
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#8As our instruments get better, are we going to find these clusters further and further out until we hit the supposed age of the universe @ 13.7B years? Then what? When do we start thinking that maybe the models are potentially wrong?
When we have evidence to the contrary. Speculation about what we might find in the future doesn't change anything.
Exactly right. Its exciting because we get new data and if it contradicts theory, it forces us to reconsider what we think is the correct answer. And in that reconsideration our understanding grows.
It is unfortunate that we cannot image this object once a day for 5 years and then watch its changes over that time period in one 30 minute viewing. Telescope time is too valuable to "waste" but I wonder what it might show us.
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
When we have evidence to the contrary. Speculation about what we might find in the future doesn't change anything.
Exactly right. Its exciting because we get new data and if it contradicts theory, it forces us to reconsider what we think is the correct answer. And in that reconsideration our understanding grows. It is unfortunate that we cannot image this object once a day for 5 years and then watch its changes over that time period in one 30 minute viewing. Telescope time is too valuable to "waste" but I wonder what it might sho…
Let's say our telescopes get better and better. Are there any hard limits for how well we can resolve the light from such a galaxy?
Re: Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly right. Its exciting because we get new data and if it contradicts theory, it forces us to reconsider what we think is the correct answer. And in that reconsideration our understanding grows. It is unfortunate that we cannot image this object once a day for 5 years and then watch its changes over that time period in one 30 minute viewing. Telescope time is too valuable to "waste" but I wonder what it might sho…
Let's say our telescopes get better and better. Are there any hard limits for how well we can resolve the light from such a galaxy?
The Planck constant presumably, if we can get that far.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant#Significance_o...