- #1
BenClark
- 4
- 0
Let me start by stating a few points indicating my current understanding.
1. The known universe started with a big bang. The Big Bang created all matter which exists in the known universe.
2. Space (not empty space but the fabric of space - for lack of a better description) is expanding in all directions.
3. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. (Vacuum of space, and all that).
4. The age of our universe is approximately 15 billion years old.
5. The universe is expanding. Everyone thought that it should be slowing or even collapsing.
Now for my questions. Not necessarily in any order.
1. If I can look through a telescope and see an object 15 billion light years away,
then that means that the light has been traveling for 15 billion years. That indicates to me that the source of the light was 15 billion light years away when the light started to travel to earth.
So how did the source get to be 15 billion light years away? Even if it could travel at the speed of light, it would have taken 15 billion years to get to that point. Judging by this, the universe would be at least 30 billion years old.
I know it is not as simple as just seeing how long the light took to travel the distance, etc..
However, maybe it should. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second, reqardless of the velocity of the source or the observer.
In other words, even if the source and the observer are moving away from each other at rapid speeds. If the light travels 15 billion light years, then it traveled 15 billion light years.
So, how can the universe be 15 billion years old.
2. What is all this Dark Matter and energy stuff? The argument I hear is that if you observe a spiral galaxy, you will see that the outer bands are moving around the center too fast for the amount of matter in the galaxy, so there must be some kind of Dark Magic stuff making this happen. It seems to me that since everyone pretty much agrees that space is expanding, since the outer edges of the galaxy cover a much larger section of space, then they would be effected more than the center
of the galaxy. Now it seems to me, that if space itself is expanding, then the actual distance between two objects is not really getting farther apart, only the space is increasing. We see this as an increase in distance looking from afar. So in other words, if you have two points in space, and you measure them as being 1 light year apart, then when the space between them expands, the
measured distance between them would still be 1 light year apart. So, if you have a moving object, which is moving through expanding space, then we would see the object as if it were accelerating even though its speed is constant. That being said, we would then see the outer bands of the galaxy moving faster then they should because they have to traverse the expanding space.
So, is there really some dark matter or dark energy at work?
3. How do we know that the universe is not collapsing? If space is expanding at a rate faster than the objects in space are collapsing, our observations would show that the universe is expanding, even though its just expanding space.
Continuing from number 2 above, expanding space on such a grand scale as the known universe, we would see objects that appear to be not only speeding away but also accelerating. However, if you negate the rate of expansion, I don't think that the objects would be moving away at all.
4. The Big Bang. I've heard it over and over again. But if there was a big bang, should we see all objects in the universe moving away from some point in space. I've heard that this is not the case, that objects seem to be moving is all different directions.
Some of this could be explained away by expanding space. But what if the location of the big bang was outside our known universe.
From our point of view, there may not be an origin. If our known universe is a bubble, the point in space where the big bang took place, could be far outside our bubble. If we look hard enough, we might see all the objects moving in a V shape pattern, with the point of the V being the origin of the big bang.
I am not very good at explaining this stuff so I hope I made more since than not.
I would really like to get some replies on these and even some discussions. I may be completely wrong about all or some of it but I can at least learn something from people telling me I'm crazy, as long they explain why. :-)
Thanks
1. The known universe started with a big bang. The Big Bang created all matter which exists in the known universe.
2. Space (not empty space but the fabric of space - for lack of a better description) is expanding in all directions.
3. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. (Vacuum of space, and all that).
4. The age of our universe is approximately 15 billion years old.
5. The universe is expanding. Everyone thought that it should be slowing or even collapsing.
Now for my questions. Not necessarily in any order.
1. If I can look through a telescope and see an object 15 billion light years away,
then that means that the light has been traveling for 15 billion years. That indicates to me that the source of the light was 15 billion light years away when the light started to travel to earth.
So how did the source get to be 15 billion light years away? Even if it could travel at the speed of light, it would have taken 15 billion years to get to that point. Judging by this, the universe would be at least 30 billion years old.
I know it is not as simple as just seeing how long the light took to travel the distance, etc..
However, maybe it should. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second, reqardless of the velocity of the source or the observer.
In other words, even if the source and the observer are moving away from each other at rapid speeds. If the light travels 15 billion light years, then it traveled 15 billion light years.
So, how can the universe be 15 billion years old.
2. What is all this Dark Matter and energy stuff? The argument I hear is that if you observe a spiral galaxy, you will see that the outer bands are moving around the center too fast for the amount of matter in the galaxy, so there must be some kind of Dark Magic stuff making this happen. It seems to me that since everyone pretty much agrees that space is expanding, since the outer edges of the galaxy cover a much larger section of space, then they would be effected more than the center
of the galaxy. Now it seems to me, that if space itself is expanding, then the actual distance between two objects is not really getting farther apart, only the space is increasing. We see this as an increase in distance looking from afar. So in other words, if you have two points in space, and you measure them as being 1 light year apart, then when the space between them expands, the
measured distance between them would still be 1 light year apart. So, if you have a moving object, which is moving through expanding space, then we would see the object as if it were accelerating even though its speed is constant. That being said, we would then see the outer bands of the galaxy moving faster then they should because they have to traverse the expanding space.
So, is there really some dark matter or dark energy at work?
3. How do we know that the universe is not collapsing? If space is expanding at a rate faster than the objects in space are collapsing, our observations would show that the universe is expanding, even though its just expanding space.
Continuing from number 2 above, expanding space on such a grand scale as the known universe, we would see objects that appear to be not only speeding away but also accelerating. However, if you negate the rate of expansion, I don't think that the objects would be moving away at all.
4. The Big Bang. I've heard it over and over again. But if there was a big bang, should we see all objects in the universe moving away from some point in space. I've heard that this is not the case, that objects seem to be moving is all different directions.
Some of this could be explained away by expanding space. But what if the location of the big bang was outside our known universe.
From our point of view, there may not be an origin. If our known universe is a bubble, the point in space where the big bang took place, could be far outside our bubble. If we look hard enough, we might see all the objects moving in a V shape pattern, with the point of the V being the origin of the big bang.
I am not very good at explaining this stuff so I hope I made more since than not.
I would really like to get some replies on these and even some discussions. I may be completely wrong about all or some of it but I can at least learn something from people telling me I'm crazy, as long they explain why. :-)
Thanks