Basic State of The Galaxy

[BioEgo]

in one word, range...

Light is subject to the inverse square law, and to see back to the big bang we'd have to observe at a distance of some 14 billion lightyears... AND in the right direction, too. However, since the universe couldn't possibly expand faster than light, that light should have been moving away from us since it's very beginning, so I don't think we could catch it. At least that seems pretty logical.

As far as I understand that's not completely correct: while it's true that lightspeed is the top speed IN the universe that's not the limit for the expansion if you consider that redshift is not a movement IN the universe but WITH the universe! And the actual size of the observable universe is pretty higher then 14billion ly.
Uh and the idea of moving faster than light while traveling WITH the universe and not IN it is at the base of the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive"]Alcubierre FTL drive theory[/ame]!

Btw measuring distances on a cosmological scale is all but trivial!:blink:

As for the right direction: as other have said before in this thread since the big-bang wasn't an explosion IN the universe but OF the universe the big-bang is not located somewhere but is actually all around us (as we can see with the cosmic microwave background).

The real limit for observation is that since the age of recombination, about 380.000 years after the big-bang, the universe was completely opaque to electromagnetic radiation so we can't see further than that. And the first light visible should be that of the CMBR (Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation).

 

[T.Neo]

Alcubierre FTL drive theory... yes... let me know once you've solved the problem of getting your temperature risen to the point where you disassociate into subatomic particles, once you go above lightspeed...

As far as I can understand, we can't see back before a certain point because before that point, there was nothing to see- the universe was clouded with electrons which made it opaque, as soon as the first atoms formed the universe was "flooded" with light and the remnants of this light we still see today as the cosmic microwave background.

As for the cheese planet, one must consider what would happen on the outside, and the inside, of the cheese. On the outside, years of solar radiation and temperature variations would probably cause the cheese to decompose (chemically, not biologically), and leave some sort of carbon/hydrocarbon residue behind, baked in the Sun.

Pressures at the core might cause the cheese to take on some other novel form, and temperatures could have an interesting effect as well... at least somewhere inside the planet there would be molten cheese. Considering that this is a magically constructed cheese-planet, there shouldn't be any leftover accretion heat, so the interior would actually be pretty cool.

Over longer periods of time, impact gardening and also larger, crater forming impact events would come into play.

Long story short, it won't stink up space for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and the surface won't be cheese as you or I know it, but rather a dessicated, tarry slag of hydrocarbons, that might even outgas a thin atmosphere.

Maybe there would be space for life on this planet (there is water here; cheese contains a lot of water, at least in planetological terms), but not on the surface- in a sun-baked vacuum, it has about as much of a chance as life in the top layers of the lunar regolith.

 

[BioEgo]

Alcubierre FTL drive theory... yes... let me know once you've solved the problem of getting your temperature risen to the point where you disassociate into subatomic particles, once you go above lightspeed...

Oh well.......pobody is nerfect!:lol:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

re: expansion and the centre.
The ever-smiling scientist guy on Universe gave a nice demonstration of the concept with a rubber hose with equi-ditant ping pong balls on it. As he stretched the hose all the balls moved away from each other. From the perspective of any given ball, all the balls appear to be moving further away from every other ball. this gives the impression that whichever planet you are on is in the ventre of the universe.

re: cheese moon
do you think we could find frozen cheesiorites in the arctic?

 

[Urwumpe]

From which one is that? seems to be one of those I haven't read yet...

Not sure about the exact book, I have read the first ones in German, but it was 100% a Discworld quote, one of the error messages of Hex. The Wikipedia has "Divide by Cucumber" as well, but I remember having seen "Out of Cucumber" in a book, when I ask a coprogrammer about the origin of his break point error messages, during my first month as professional.

 

[T.Neo]

do you think we could find frozen cheesiorites in the arctic?

Well, the surface layer(s) are going to be turned into that nice hydrocarbon slag... I think both the slag and the remaining cheese will be too fragile to spall after an impact like that, so probably no Lunar or Mars-esque "meteorites".

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Well, the surface layer(s) are going to be turned into that nice hydrocarbon slag... I think both the slag and the remaining cheese will be too fragile to spall after an impact like that, so probably no Lunar or Mars-esque "meteorites".

boring! so what if the moon had just the right rotational speed, so that one side was always facing away from the sun? and it was the dark side that was struck? Would a large enough piece of frozen astro-cheese be able to make it though the atmosphere and stay frozen in the arctic?

that would be some seriously vintage cheese....

 

[Urwumpe]

The last time, a big cheddarite impacted on the world, the flood of cheese fondue caused several flood myths and the creation of such surreal landscapes like Switzerland or Netherlands. Just wander in Switzerland at some cliffs, you can see there is a thin Parmesan layer between the Appenzeller and the Tilsilt cheese layer (The so called A-T Boundary)

 

[T.Neo]

boring! so what if the moon had just the right rotational speed, so that one side was always facing away from the sun? and it was the dark side that was struck? Would a large enough piece of frozen astro-cheese be able to make it though the atmosphere and stay frozen in the arctic?

that would be some seriously vintage cheese....

Then it would have to be tidally locked to the star. A moon won't be tidally locked to the star, it'll (probably) be tidally locked to the parent planet. Remember, "far side" is not synonymous with "dark side".

A piece of cheese from, let's say, a permanently shaded crater at one of the poles, would have it's water content frozen in, but will still change over deep time, as it is slowly irradiated by cosmic rays.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

thanks for the facts T.Neo, but this was the kinda science I was looking for:

The last time, a big cheddarite impacted on the world, the flood of cheese fondue caused several flood myths and the creation of such surreal landscapes like Switzerland or Netherlands. Just wander in Switzerland at some cliffs, you can see there is a thin Parmesan layer between the Appenzeller and the Tilsilt cheese layer (The so called A-T Boundary)

 

[T.Neo]

Maybe I should have read that earlier... it's hilarious! :lol:

I have to say, that I'm unfortunately not as humorous as that... sorry.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Maybe I should have read that earlier... it's hilarious! :lol:

I have to say, that I'm unfortunately not as humorous as that... sorry.

Urwumpe isn't usually that humorous either

 

[Urwumpe]

Urwumpe isn't usually that humorous either

:facepalm::lol:

 

[Artlav]

So, galaxy have a state?
Which side of the wall is the asylum?

 

[Wishbone]

Based on random encounters during the day and some reflections from polished surfaces, am afraid the sane part of the Universe is out there.