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Light from the First Stars in the universe?

badastronomy.com — Images made by taking very deep exposures, then subtracting away all known light sources appear to show the light from the very first stars in the universe. Still up for debate but moving through the peer review system

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 3, 2007

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  • HydroWizard, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11In a scientific context, light refers to all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  • BadAstronomer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5It's really hard to say what this light is coming from. It appears to be real, in that it's not something inside the telescope or detector; it's coming from space. But we're just not sure what it's *from*. There may be some underlying faint galaxies, or it might be from the first stars. Whatever it is, it's *interesting*!
  • michaelk2k5, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Such a big claim...wont be official for a looonng time yet
  • EarlOfLade, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4It's light redshifted into the infrared part of the spectrum due to distance and speeds.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Looks like some fancy neuro-network...
  • nixoru, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Wow.
  • LordSkywalker, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6Those rays of light were sent out a long time ago, from a galaxy far, far away.
  • sockpuppets, on 10/11/2007, -5/+7I feel so small.
  • kd1s, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I guess there's something wrong with me since I don't feel so small when I look out into the sky. I think they call it inflated ego or some such obscure term. All I know is that I was meant to be the ruler of the Universe.
  • bar10dr, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Okey please help me understand how that is possible, the light from the very first stars ever created in this universe hit's us now... how the hell did we get this far out from the first stars in the first place? I mean if the light from them is hitting us now that means we traveled faster than light to get here?
    wtf?
  • thall, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2You're assuming the photo is showing the first light beams from the first stars. It's just a snapshot of light from some source that's been hitting us all along.
  • DavidGX, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3religion says what now?
  • Error601, on 10/11/2007, -6/+6Well, this took a nose dive real quick.
  • EarlOfLade, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Speaking from experience?

  • quotato, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2When the musics over, turn off the stars, turn off the stars
  • pw378, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1bar10dr:I mean if the light from them is hitting us now that means we traveled faster than light to get here?

    We didn't travel faster than light, but we did in the relativistic sense. The first stars 'ignited' about 400 million years after the big bang, which means the universe was already pretty big, particularly due to the rapid 'inflation' that is theorized in the first instants of universal existence. Light from one end of the universe that began its trip to the other side would be required to travel not only the width of the existing Universe, but also the newly created 'space' of the constantly expanding Universe. Kind of a strange concept to wrap your head around for most folks.
  • FlapJaw, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2My god it's full of stars!
  • crushfan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2And I feel like I have Alice in Wonderland syndrome (Haven't heard? Google it. Your world'll be shaken for sure) when I see photos like that.
  • 350Zed, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4Interesting, but I have to agree with this comment:

    “I’d like to see some independent confirmation.”

    I also can't see why they call it "light", since that would reference the visible (to humans) spectrum. I can't see in the infrared, so I'd hardly call this "light".

    However, if this can be correlated to the cosmic background radiation, they may be onto something interesting.
  • MajorDick, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Ah....I'm not sure about this. This could be anything. I wouldn't know what the hell the first stars looked like so if someone shows me I have to take it with a grain of salt. Hey! It could be lots of grains of salt.
  • Stano, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0From This Universe.
  • bbqsalad, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Phil's site is great.
  • raid517, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Well if I were religious (which I'm not) I guess I'd say "bite me."
  • kevinmotel, on 10/11/2007, -10/+8Then put your pants back on.
  • specialK16, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2Religion says: Thanks God for such a beatiful thing, the universe.

    I'm not religious but trying to put down religion is a very low, albeit, common.
  • shinedout, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1It looks like my windshield after I drive through a swarm of nats
  • crushfan, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2Pedo Phil?
  • sockpuppets, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2Dad?

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