Saturday, November 14, 1998

The end is not so near

Columbus never did discover the edge of the Earth, but astronomers, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, are close to discovering the edge of the universe.

Scientists who believe in the Big Bang think it occurred 13 billion years ago. Now Hubble's infrared camera has detected galaxies 12 billion light years away, putting astronomers within 1 billion light years of the beginning of time and the edge of the universe.

The distances add new dimensions to the adjective "astronomical": 12 billion times 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in one year, is how far away those galaxies are. To paraphrase an old canard against small towns, it's not the end of the universe, but you can see it from there.