Basic State of The Galaxy

[fsci123]

The galaxy is currently believed to contain 500-100-Billion Stars SS...
This discussion concerns various hypothesis about stars,planets,interstellar travel and, colonization.


NO dumb questions whatsoever.

 

[RisingFury]

Your point being?

 

[fsci123]

Your point being?

Its just a random discussion board that people other than me can get their questions answered on various theories about topics that i listed above....

 

[Urwumpe]

Its just a random discussion board that people other than me can get their questions answered on various theories about topics that i listed above....

It is 90% bureaucracy.

 

[Artlav]

Try to imagine them all.
Blink, reboot, figure out where you are, carry on.

 

[orbitingpluto]

What if there was a moon sized ball of cheese, and it orbited a Earth-like planet in a Solar System very much like our own? Would it be edible?

 

[Artlav]

What if there was a moon sized ball of cheese, and it orbited a Earth-like planet in a Solar System very much like our own? Would it be edible?

The planet will stink of rotten cheese, even across vacuum. And, it would break up into basic elements quite soon.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what would happen, so don't let this discourage your attempt at practical joke on people of that planet.

 

[N_Molson]

Cheese doesn't rot easily in vacuum (well, I doubt there ever was any experiment about this, which is a shame). I guess that solar radiations would affect it and break its molecular bonds, though. But that would take a lot of time for such a large ball of cheese.

 

[Artlav]

Why don't they strap a piece of cheese outside the ISS?
It's build on our taxes, so please do the simple experiments we ask for!

 

[garyw]

The galaxy is currently believed to contain 500-100-Billion Stars SS...
This discussion concerns various hypothesis about stars,planets,interstellar travel and, colonization.


NO dumb questions whatsoever.

No Dumb questions? When theoretical physicists think that we might all be holograms projected from the edge of the universe I think dumb left the room ages ago.

Yes, it's a true theory -> http://quantumphysics.tribe.net/thread/7c1b85e4-b6f8-4d41-9a51-d236144e27aa

 

[Quick_Nick]

It is sad that I'm going with that theory until we collect more information?
Edit: however, once you thrown in extra universes, you've lost my interest

 

[fireballs619]

While this discussion on cheese is quite riveting, I actually have a setious question. I have often times rea that we can see back, with hubble, to a brief moment after the beginning of the universe. What is stopping us from actually looking back further, to the big bang? I know it is quite a dumb question to some, but I don't understand the answers I've read. Also, from our searches, do we have an estimate as to where the center of the universe may be?

EDIT: This is more to do with the universe, but I really don't want to start a new thread.

 

[tblaxland]

I have often times rea that we can see back, with hubble, to a brief moment after the beginning of the universe. What is stopping us from actually looking back further, to the big bang?

In my understanding it comes down to detectors. You can never see right back to the beginning of time, because there was nothing there to see, but with better detectors you can asymptotically approach it with better detectors.

Also, from our searches, do we have an estimate as to where the center of the universe may be?

There is no centre . Google turned this article up, which seems to explain it reasonably well (insofar as my understanding of it...).

 

[Quick_Nick]

Well, the Big Bang didn't happen at a point inside the universe. It was everywhere and is everything. The universe has expanded so fast that the light from some objects that were long ago near us is just now reaching us. IIRC, that's how we can "see into the past". (and is also the reason the universe should be immensely larger than what we see)

 

[Blacklight]

Originally Posted by fireballs619 View Post
Also, from our searches, do we have an estimate as to where the center of the universe may be?

The universe was so small at the Big Bang that everything was at the SAME point. Then, the universe expanded. Everything can still be pretty much considered at "The center" because everything is expanding away from each other pretty much equally in all directions.

 

[TJohns]

I think the main reason you can't see ALL the way back is because at some point all the matter in the universe was in an ionized plasma state that I believe is opaque to electromagnetic radiation. You can't detect further back because the radiation couldn't get through!

 

[Wishbone]

Divide by cucumber error. Reinstall the Universe and reboot.

 

[garyw]

The universe was so small at the Big Bang that everything was at the SAME point. Then, the universe expanded. Everything can still be pretty much considered at "The center" because everything is expanding away from each other pretty much equally in all directions.

That was my understanding too. It also means that you can quite rightly state that you are the centre of the universe and it appeals to the ego in me.:lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

No Dumb questions? When theoretical physicists think that we might all be holograms projected from the edge of the universe I think dumb left the room ages ago.

That is not what scientists say about it actually. Scientists just discovered that the universe could have holographic properties, not be a hologram itself. It basically means that much more dimensions are reduced into a few dimensions (like hologram is a 3D object in a 2D picture), and that removing a part of the information in the "holographic universe" does not completely remove the underlying hologram information.

So, we really exist and are not just projections, but what makes us exist is not as simple as we often experience it. Also it would mean, if the universe would be split into half, every half would have information about the other half. Which isn't as surprising since information travels pretty slow there.

---------- Post added at 12:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------

Divide by cucumber error. Reinstall the Universe and reboot.

It is "ERROR -999 ++++ Out of cucumber error ++++ Please reinstall universe and reboot ++++" ... A classic Discworld quote and popular debug message for elderly C++ coders. :lol:

 

[jedidia]

What is stopping us from actually looking back further, to the big bang?

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.

Anyways, I was completely unable to get the purpose of this thread from the initial post. Maybe someone could clarify?

EDIT: darn, I missed the second page...

A classic Discworld quote

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