We're still in our own neighborhood of space in time, looking at galaxies that look much like our own. But stars and galaxies change over time. As we begin to set our sights on objects farther and farther away, we begin to see the universe when it was younger and different from what it is today. And then the mists of time begin to cloud the view. Standing at the Big I and peering south with our telescope, we can't see too well past Socorro.
Galaxies become single blobs.
But the things we can see, that are bright enough to shine through the mists, are full of enchanting mystery, bright beacons to a strange early universe. Down past Truth or Consequences, about 10 billion light years away, galaxies are just faint dots of light, illuminated by enigmatic fires called quasars burning in their young cores. From our vantage point on Earth, that early universe looks like a fireworks show, dominated by hot quasars and staggering explosions called gamma ray bursts. And then there comes a point where we can see no more. From perhaps 8 feet from our destination, just 100,000 years after the big bang that created the universe, comes the hazy light of what's called the cosmic microwave background.