Trivia 2 ~ Answer 1 – about 14 Billion Light Years

If you said something from 13-15 billion light-years, give it to yourself. What are a billion light-years among friends?

The observable universe is a ball-shaped region of the universe comprising all matter that can be observed from Earth or its space-based telescopes and exploratory probes at the present time because the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion.

There may be 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, although that number was estimated in 2021 at only several hundred billion based on data from New Horizons. Assuming the universe is isotropic, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is roughly the same in every direction. That is, the observable universe is a spherical region centered on the observer. Every location in the universe has its own observable universe, which may or may not overlap with the one centered on Earth.

In visible light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was opaque like a thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have the technology to detect them. 

%d bloggers like this: