How far back in time is it possible to see?
Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. When we observe the star’s light, we are looking at light that was emitted from the star 12.9 billion years ago – we call this the lookback time. We can see light from 13.8 billion years ago, although it is not star light – there were no stars then Why look back? We can see light from 13.8 billion years ago, although it is not star light – there were no stars then. Maybe the next generation space-based gravitational wave detector – such as Esa’s telescope Lisa, which is due for launch in 2037 – will be able to see into the very early universe before the CMB formed 13.8 billion years ago.
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