Science Fenns / Looking farther
Telescope
Start with your own eyes. Then go farther. Every picture is old light. Pick a target and look.
Your eyes. A speck of light. Is it even there?
- Your eyesJust a speck
- BinocularsA shape
- TelescopeLook at that
- Space telescopeAll the way out
Target 1 of 15
Pick a target
How far?
Old light:
Look for:
0 of 15 stars in the lantern.Go all the way out on a target to log it.
The light ribbon
Light is fast. Space is huge. The farther right a target sits, the older its light is when it reaches your eye. Tap any one.
The sky drawer
Your light
Wave to the Sky
Light left Earth the day you were born. It never stopped. See how far it has gone and which stars it has already passed. Then send a wave to anything in the drawer.
ly means light-year. One light-year is how far light travels in a year. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.
Now send a wave
Pick a place and send a wave. Then see when it arrives.
Want to try someone else? Type their age. A grown-up’s light has passed a lot more stars.
The Long Flight
Ride the light
Fly out along the ribbon, from the Moon to the edge of what we can see. Watch the clock. At every stop, see what was happening on Earth when that light left.
Fifteen stops. About a minute and a half. You can pause, skip, or jump to any stop with the dots at the bottom.
Poppy’s game
Sky Hunt
Poppy found something in the sky. Some rounds you name the smudge. Some rounds you tell which light is older. Look closer for a hint. Fewer hints, more points.
Round 1 of 8
Where the pictures come from
Every picture here is a real photograph or a real image from a space mission. NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute made them, and we found them through Wikimedia Commons. Thank you to everyone on those teams. Most are public domain. Two are shared under a free license that asks us to name the makers, and we do below.