Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Far objects - quasars 
Name: Harry L Pellegrini
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What is the farthest space object from the Earth?


Replies:
The farthest objects that we can see are some very bright galaxies that are shining at us almost from the beginning of the universe. These are called "quasars" because they look like very small objects (quasi-stellar) even though they are so bright. Depending on how old the universe is, these galaxies are around 10 billion light-years away. We also have signals almost from the beginning of the universe. The problem with space is the distances are so huge that the most distant things were there a very long time ago - it is impossible for us to be able to see instantaneously what is out there at 10 billion light-years, but light takes 10 billion years to get there!

A Smith

Click here to return to the Astronomy Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory