What outcome might an astronomer face when pointing a standard optical telescope at an extremely distant object?
Answer
Seeing nothing, or only the faintest, reddest components within the visible range.
If an astronomer uses only an optical telescope on an extremely distant object, they face two major problems exacerbated by this choice of instrument. First, the light has been redshifted heavily by cosmic expansion, pushing much of the emitted energy out of the visible spectrum and into the infrared where the optical telescope is insensitive. Second, the object is incredibly faint. Consequently, the optical telescope might detect nothing at all, or perhaps only the residual light that managed to stay in the visible range, leading to an incomplete and skewed understanding of the galaxy's total light output and activity.
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