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In reply to the discussion: New galaxy 'most distant' yet discovered [View all]DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)Edited to add that I'm wrong in my assertion. From the Wikipedia entry on the universe:
"The Universe has not been the same at all times in its history; for example, the relative populations of quasars and galaxies have changed and space itself appears to have expanded. This expansion accounts for how Earth-bound scientists can observe the light from a galaxy 30 billion light years away, even if that light has traveled for only 13 billion years; the very space between them has expanded."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe
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(original, incorrect assertion below)
Here's an article from last year talking about the most distant galaxy discovered at that time, estimated at 12.91 billion light years. Since everything in the universe is moving away from everything else in the universe at light speed, relative to any single one of those objects, then something that's 30 billion light years distant would mean that the object is at least 30 billion years old. I believe it's less than half of that.