How to Know the Age of Distant Galaxies

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In special relativity, you can't even say what is simultaneous between here and some distant place. So how do we know the age of the photons? Well, it depends on how far away they are. These days, we think we have a very accurate model of exactly how the universe has expanded over time. The cosmological model can be used to then say, and the universe this old when seeing its light that you're seeing right now.

Welcome to the April 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.