MicroFactzzz#0010 · 🌌 Cosmic Oddities
Distant Galaxies Are Outrunning Light — And Physics Is Totally Fine With It
The galaxies themselves aren't moving faster than light, but the space between us and them is stretching fast enough that the effective distance grows faster than c.
The rule "nothing can move faster than light" is a cornerstone of relativity — and it still holds. But it applies to movement through space, not to the expansion of space itself.
The universe is expanding, which means the space between us and distant galaxies is literally growing. Past a certain distance, that growth outpaces the speed of light.
The effect: some galaxies' light will never reach us, because the distance to them grows faster than photons can cross it. They're the ones "escaping" beyond the edge of the observable universe, not us.
This distinction — movement within space versus the expansion of space itself — is one of those spots where everyday intuition completely fails.
Sources
- General knowledge / encyclopedic sources
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Krulicza Nora
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