Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - What's the furthest object you've ever seen? How about 7.5 billion light years?

Cube Inmate · 03-20-2008, 04:08 PM

To answer the question in the title, the most distant thing I've seen is about 24 million light years distant: the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), seen with 8" of telescope. That's about 0.3% of the distance to this GRB, it consists of billions of stars, and it's barely a smudge in my scope.

The most distant thing typically visible with the naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which also consists of billions of stars and is only about 2.5 million light years away. It's still impossible to fathom the brightness of the GRB, but this provides a little perspective.

03-20-2008, 04:08 PM	#22
Cube Inmate First Line Centre Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Boxed-in Exp:	To answer the question in the title, the most distant thing I've seen is about 24 million light years distant: the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), seen with 8" of telescope. That's about 0.3% of the distance to this GRB, it consists of billions of stars, and it's barely a smudge in my scope. The most distant thing typically visible with the naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), which also consists of billions of stars and is only about 2.5 million light years away. It's still impossible to fathom the brightness of the GRB, but this provides a little perspective.