UniVerses

This remarkable image was collected by focusing the Hubble Space Telescope for many months on a line of site that was nearly empty. The light which was gathered originated shortly after the Universe (as we know it) began, nearly 14 billion years ago.

journey

from the dawn of time this faintest breath
of light has skimmed across the universe.
it shimmers: blue remains of distant death.
an ancient inkling shifts time into reverse
collected through a telescope’s keen eye.
their spectrum weakened by the cosmic journey
these photons riccocheted across the sky
and connect the furthest reaches of infinity.
nigh fourteen billion years ago spewed out
to show us how their star appeared that day
and what the primal forces brought about.
their source has long since blown away.
throughout the mists of space this confluence
has spanned the incarnation of sentience.

We are connected to the Universe by radiation we can see directly or by using instruments which detect other wavelengths (like infra-red, x-rays or gamma rays).

When we see a star's light we are looking at photons that were emitted eons ago. Like a snapshot, they carry the image of what that star looked like at the moment these photons began their journey. Depending on how far away that star was, its type and age, it may have extinguished since.

We can also detect the influence of things we can't see, but know exist because of the way they change the behavior of things we can see. That's how we detect Black Holes, or Dark Matter, for examples.

What are the oldest images we have? The earliest pictures of star systems are shown to the left. While these photons were journeying toward us, the Sun, Earth and Life itself were created.

Was there anything before?

We can imagine, through the language of mathematics, the nature of the Cosmos shortly after the Origin, the moment when Creation began, but we can't detect any trace of what existed before then. Which doesn't mean that there was nothing.

What was it like at the birth of the Universe?