Neil deGrasse Tyson on Calculating the Distance of a Quasar

If a quasar is billions of light years away, how can we calculate that distance when the light takes billions of years to reach us? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why we can see events that took place before Earth even existed in this StarTalk Radio "Behind the Scenes" Cosmic Queries video with comic co-host Eugene Mirman.

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[StarTalk]

*New Video: “How can we calculate the distance to a Quasar?”*
_If a quasar is billions of light years away, how can we calculate that distance when the light takes billions of years to reach us? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why we can see events that took place before Earth even existed in this StarTalk Radio "Behind the Scenes" Cosmic Queries video with comic co-host Eugene Mirman._
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Calculating the Distance of a Quasar

[NewInkFoHalo]

While fascinating, that actually had nothing to do with calculating the distance of a quasar.

[DaxperOfficial]

well, that wasn't really a clear explanation on calculating the distance but more an explanation on the reasoning behind it's distance

[michaelo.]

These seem to be becoming more infrequent and shorter simultaneously 

[TilekMamutov]

I love Neil deGrasse Tyson, but sometimes he simply does not answer questions. :)

[gforce]

How do you calculate the distance to a quasar? Well the quasar is the center of a galaxy so just look at the brightness of a standard candle in that galaxy, either a type 1a supernova or a variable star. That's how the distances to all galaxies are calculated.

[theJellyjoker]

A much better question would be "is the distance mesurment based on where it was when the light we see was emitted or is it the current distance of the object taking into account the motion of the object?"

[YoungEducationUSA]

Is neil still gonna be doing startalk during the new cosmos series?

[Eric]

If you didn't have enough time to answer the question, just say so. And why is this non-answer one of the few bits posted on YT? If you can't post more, or longer videos, don't waste what you do post on this.

[AwsomeLorenzo]

I read a very interesting question on Facebook that went like this: "If the light we see is older than the actual object emitting it, does that mean that Andromeda has already collided with our galaxy"?

[JamaicaSugar]

"Back at the beginning of the universe"? But not EVERY star has been around THAT long. I've gotten mega rusty on my science but this whole video made no sense at all.

[ghostrid]

I would love to see NDGT give a serious colloquium on his area of expertise

[SheSweetLikSugarNSavage]

He talked that one so fast I can't tell if it sounded right or wrong.🤷🏻‍♀

[SheSweetLikSugarNSavage]

I've never seen this one? Huh! That's weird.🤔

[NicholasJNadon]

So another answer would be "Yes."

[DMahoney]

Triangulation/parallax with the base of the triangle being 186 million miles (2AU).

[greenarcangel]

But the universe was crated 3000 years ago!!!
wait a

[ogerassimov]

I didn't hear the answer? There are no answer!!! Cepheidas or something else. He simply does not answer

[HabeasCorpus]

That answer made no sense, know the distance because we can see it...., " ummmm ok....?

[Deuce]

Take it from me it's impossible to answer this question in under a minute.