Season 1 · Session 09
The Oldest Light
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If we look far enough away, are we looking back in time?
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About 1% of the snow on an old untuned TV is the oldest light in the universe, 13.8 billion years old and arriving right now. Does knowing that change how 'ancient' and 'now' feel to you?
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The CMB is almost perfectly smooth, but the tiny unevenness is the seed of every galaxy. If it had been perfectly uniform, nothing would ever have clumped. Why does it matter that the early universe was slightly lumpy?
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When you look at a star, you see it as it was years ago. Look at a distant galaxy and you see it as it was eons ago. You never see the sky 'now.' What does it do to the idea of a single present moment that distance is also time?
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How do you feel about this science and its understanding of reality?
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