Could a large chunk of the universe have been "deleted"?

[Filament]

Something like Thanos would do for Death, or Grandmaster would do because he lost a wager... The oldest light that has arrived to Earth so far is something like 14 billion years old. From recent Hubble observations, it's being estimated that there are 10 times more galaxies than was thought. That would mean a galaxy older than 14 billion has emitted light that hasn't made it to Earth so far, and there are plenty out there that fall into that classification. This goes for radio waves from an advanced alien civilization also, that would take even longer from the most distant galaxies (it takes years for it to just get outside it's own galaxy). Kind of creepy, isn't it? The whole concept of perceiving the universe as it was long ago, and that's all we have to go on, is very interesting to me. It only happens if the light got to you already. What happens way out there is of no consequence until then.

[John Ossie]

Erm...Maybe?

[yet another]

Something like Thanos would do for Death, or Grandmaster would do because he lost a wager... The oldest light that has arrived to Earth so far is something like 14 billion years old. From recent Hubble observations, it's being estimated that there are 10 times more galaxies than was thought. That would mean a galaxy older than 14 billion has emitted light that hasn't made it to Earth so far, and there are plenty out there that fall into that classification. This goes for radio waves from an advanced alien civilization also, that would take even longer from the most distant galaxies (it takes years for it to just get outside it's own galaxy). Kind of creepy, isn't it? The whole concept of perceiving the universe as it was long ago, and that's all we have to go on, is very interesting to me. It only happens if the light got to you already. What happens way out there is of no consequence until then.

The light from those galaxies won't ever make it to Earth according to current observations, the universe is expanding faster than the light can travel.

Soon enough there will not be any other galaxies visible from the Milky Way, i.e. the rest of the universe has effectively been "deleted".

[Kirby101]

Something like Thanos would do for Death, or Grandmaster would do because he lost a wager... The oldest light that has arrived to Earth so far is something like 14 billion years old. From recent Hubble observations, it's being estimated that there are 10 times more galaxies than was thought. That would mean a galaxy older than 14 billion has emitted light that hasn't made it to Earth so far, and there are plenty out there that fall into that classification. This goes for radio waves from an advanced alien civilization also, that would take even longer from the most distant galaxies (it takes years for it to just get outside it's own galaxy). Kind of creepy, isn't it? The whole concept of perceiving the universe as it was long ago, and that's all we have to go on, is very interesting to me. It only happens if the light got to you already. What happens way out there is of no consequence until then.

The oldest galaxy is 13 billion years old. Where did you see that there are galaxies older than the 14 billion years estimate of the Universe's age?

[Filament]

The oldest galaxy is 13 billion years old. Where did you see that there are galaxies older than the 14 billion years estimate of the Universe's age?

I read an article linked from the Google Science News, maybe Space.com. The 14 billion refers to the oldest light that's made it to Earth so far, not that it is the estimate of the Universe's age (I think I got that from another site after reading the first article). I guess the 14 billion years would be the age of the detectable universe. I'm pretty sure that they are certain that there are galaxies further away, and therefore older than, what ever is the furthest one they can detect directly. I think that's part of how they theorized that there could be dark matter. What I was saying was that if there a lot more galaxies than thought, then part of those would add to the number of ones whose light hasn't made it to Earth yet.

[Filament]

The light from those galaxies won't ever make it to Earth according to current observations, the universe is expanding faster than the light can travel.

Soon enough there will not be any other galaxies visible from the Milky Way, i.e. the rest of the universe has effectively been "deleted".

That's a good point, except they continually find galaxies further away. They know that those are moving away from us faster than the speed of light, but that doesn't mean that light previously emitted from them won't arrive here.

[GreenLanternRanger]

The mysteries of the universe are infinite and potentially beyond human comprehension. Mankind must be careful when looking for answers, lest he become consumed by madness in the process

[Spike-X]

The mysteries of the universe are infinite and potentially beyond human comprehension. Mankind must be careful when looking for answers, lest he become consumed by madness in the process

Well, that's something deep-sounding that means absolutely nothing.

[t hedge coke]

Well, that's something deep-sounding that means absolutely nothing.

Or, does it... and we've just all gone mad and can't comprehend it any more?

[Spike-X]

Or, does it... and we've just all gone mad and can't comprehend it any more?

Yeah...nah.

[JCAll]

The mysteries of the universe are infinite and potentially beyond human comprehension. Mankind must be careful when looking for answers, lest he become consumed by madness in the process

Humanity is plenty crazy to begin with. Who would notice the difference.

[Kirby101]

I read an article linked from the Google Science News, maybe Space.com. The 14 billion refers to the oldest light that's made it to Earth so far, not that it is the estimate of the Universe's age (I think I got that from another site after reading the first article). I guess the 14 billion years would be the age of the detectable universe. I'm pretty sure that they are certain that there are galaxies further away, and therefore older than, what ever is the furthest one they can detect directly. I think that's part of how they theorized that there could be dark matter. What I was saying was that if there a lot more galaxies than thought, then part of those would add to the number of ones whose light hasn't made it to Earth yet.

I don't think that's right. I have not seen anything that says the Universe is older than 14 billion years. Two recent measurements confirm that (WMAP and Planck). Could you link an article that says different?

[Jabare]

are we suppose to have a discussion about this

[seismic-2]

No one knows how large the universe is. It might even be infinite in size. However, it is not infinitely old - its age is 13.82 billion years. That puts a limit on the farthest galaxies that can be seen, namely they must be at a distance so that their light can reach us in 13.82 billion years. (Due to the expansion of space, that distance is in fact larger than 13.82 billion light years, but what's important is that a limit exists.) So if there are galaxies, say, 100 billion light years away, we simply have no way of knowing it yet. In theory, we would eventually be able to see them in the far distant future. However, due to the expansion of space (which is happening at an increasing rate), there is a distance beyond which we are receding away from the galaxies so fast that their light will never be able to catch up and reach us. We shall therefore never be able to know whether galaxies exist beyond a certain distance.

[t hedge coke]

are we suppose to have a discussion about this

But, carefully. In case of madness.