What exactly makes the light from these distant galaxies so “weak” that we need to point the telescope there for months to see it?
Like, isn’t there a constant stream of photons? How does just waiting longer for them make them show up if they wouldn’t have otherwise? Are things blocking most of the photons? Things from within the galaxies they’re coming from, or things in between the galaxy and the telescope?
edit: Ah, I suppose the further an object is the fewer photons from it are making it to the telescope, and so we need to wait longer for enough photons to arrive to be able to distinguish it from the random background noise on our end?
Like, isn’t there a constant stream of photons? How does just waiting longer for them make them show up if they wouldn’t have otherwise? Are things blocking most of the photons? Things from within the galaxies they’re coming from, or things in between the galaxy and the telescope?
edit: Ah, I suppose the further an object is the fewer photons from it are making it to the telescope, and so we need to wait longer for enough photons to arrive to be able to distinguish it from the random background noise on our end?