![]() His cosmic speed limit only refers to the motion of physical objects through space, from one point in the Universe to some other point. ![]() And with no light reaching the eyes, they see black. So, yes, for really large distances you could say that the Universe is expanding faster than light. Because space is a near-perfect vacuum - meaning it has exceedingly few particles - there's virtually nothing in the space between stars and planets to scatter light to our eyes. Instead of speeds exceeding 299,792 km/s (the speed of light in a vacuum), these galaxies are only moving through space at 2 the speed of light or less. ![]() However, in the absence of matter, light travels in a straight line from its source to the receiver. This field permeates all of space and is responsible for causing space to expand. However, Nobel Laureate Adam Riess and his team showed the universe is actually expanding at 73 plus or minus 1 kilometer per second per megaparsec. Recall that Earth's sky is blue because molecules that make up the atmosphere, including nitrogen and oxygen, scatter a lot of visible light's component blue and violet wavelengths from the sun in all directions, including toward our eyes. The simplest model of inflation requires that the early universe contained what’s called a scalar field. Previous measurements predicted the universe was expanding at a rate of 67.5 plus or minus 0.5 kilometers per second per megaparsec, according to NASA. "If we could see microwaves, all of space would glow." Apfel said this is because the cosmic microwave background - light energy from the Big Bang that was scattered by protons and electrons existing during the early universe - still fills all of space.Īnother reason interstellar and interplanetary space appear dark is that space is a nearly perfect vacuum. "Stars give off light in all colors, even colors not visible to the human eye, like ultraviolet or infrared," she told Live Science. Miranda Apfel, who is also a graduate student of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC, agreed with Hutchinson-Smith.
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