The oldest starlight ever detected comes from primordial cosmic structures and individual stars that formed shortly after the Big Bang, dating back nearly 13.8 billion years.
Astronomers tell us that some of the starlight that brightens our skies is from stars long dead.
Just so with those people I have known in this life who, though gone, still endure in sudden flashes that brighten my existence–a bit of music one introduced me to, a wry turn of phrase from another, a recipe, a remembered story . . . and with each of these flashes, their light shines through the years.
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The nearest star system is Alpha Centauri, whose light takes about 4.3 years to reach Earth.
Light from the center of the Milky Way, out Galaxy, takes about 25,800 years to reach Earth.
Light from the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest Galaxy to us, takes about 2.5 million years to reach Earth.
Earendel is the most distant star observed, as of April 2022, and its light takes about 28 billion years to reach Earth.
5 comments:
A wonderful comparison that a gifted writer like you would think about.
Each of us will continue to exist as long as someone living remembers.
I think my interest in my ancestors was prompted by knowing that my examining their lives kept them alive in a way...and knowing they looked at the same stars many years ago, walked paths similar to myself, and spent however many years they lived doing daily things much like myself.
What a lovely thought. Our universe has more mystery in it than I can comprehend - and so does the way my mind works.
Mine wasn't prompted by that but, now I've started researching, that's certainly how it feels.
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