Scale of the universe

Facinating Stuff.

I do have a question. If the Universe is expanding, as most believe, what is it expanding into. If the Universe has a boundry, what is on the other side of that boundry.

And, what if our universe is simply a string in a much larger universe.........jackie
 
I dunno, I wish the guy would have just graphed it on one page so's I could see the stuff side by side instead of rushing in and out........

al
 
I'm still trying to figure out the question, "If a car was going at the speed of light and the headlights were turned on - what would they look like?"

When I get this answered, I will turn to what is on the other side of the edge of the universe.

Another thought - what if our universe is really just part of an atom in a larger universe and that atom is part of a small piece of feces in some larger universe's toilet?

George
 
I think were just going in a big circle, and will end up someday back were the Dinosaurs were and then mother nature will start all over! So much for Global warming. Gee its hot today!

Joe Salt
 
Travelor said:
I'm still trying to figure out the question, "If a car was going at the speed of light and the headlights were turned on - what would they look like?"

George
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To the driver of the car it would look completely normal. To anyone else not in the car it will look like "What car?".

Either that or a pot of petunias going "Oh no. Not again."
 
It's facinating to watch the Discovery Channel when they get into all of the Quantum Physics, String Theory, Matter and Anti-Matter, Dual Universes, etc.

Then you ask the simple question, "when you look into space, you are seeing the past. If you see an object that is 1,000,000 light years away, you see what happenned 1,000,000 years ago. So, what is going on there NOW"??..........jackie
 
Jackie, I've thought of the same thing, and have come to the conclusion that except for some stars that are really close those stars way off gone out in space might not even be there anymore. In fact the closest star is 4 some light years away so if it went bang 3 years ago we wouldn't know until next year. Maybe that's what the folks who've been predicting the end of the world in 2012 have been talking about.

Geez, now I've gone and scared myself again. That's what usually happens when I start thinking....
 
jackie schmidt said:
It's facinating to watch the Discovery Channel when they get into all of the Quantum Physics, String Theory, Matter and Anti-Matter, Dual Universes, etc.

Then you ask the simple question, "when you look into space, you are seeing the past. If you see an object that is 1,000,000 light years away, you see what happenned 1,000,000 years ago. So, what is going on there NOW"??..........jackie
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You'll have to wait another million years to find out...or longer if we at it are receeding or not quite that time if we are approaching. When we look at the sun we see it as it was 8 minutes ago...and so on. Have you seen the piece talking about color...that there is no such thing as color?
 
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alinwa said:
luckily stars can't go bang unexpectedly Larry :)

you can relax now

al
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Al,they can. Nova and super nova. Luckily our star, the sun, isn't the mass that would generate one. If the nearest star alpha Centauri was a candidate, it ain't, and went super nova we would be in trouble!!
 
I said, unexpectedly...... having 100,000yrs to prepare for a white dwarf to go nova kinda' makes it less scarey :)

The one thing I think is really cool about supernova's, they're all the same size! Well not exactly the same "size" but the same brightness, their light output is regular within fractions of a unit. This is how they're used to date the universe.

al
 
If the current line of thinking is correct, nobody, or nothing, not even our Sun, gets out of life alive. Heck, even if the Universe, after fusing every last Atom, does not have enough matter to cause the "big collapse" and start the entire proccess over again, it will end up a dark, lifeless thing, unable to continue it's own existence.


This is weird stuff............jackie
 
I have always loved space and Sci-Fi as that is the closest I could ever come to being out there and seeing what it is like. Hell, that is just man's thoughts of what it may be like out there. Time travel, wouldn't it be cool to be able to do that??????
 
alinwa said:
I said, unexpectedly...... having 100,000yrs to prepare for a white dwarf to go nova kinda' makes it less scarey :)

The one thing I think is really cool about supernova's, they're all the same size! Well not exactly the same "size" but the same brightness, their light output is regular within fractions of a unit. This is how they're used to date the universe.

al
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The universe is BIG and Awesome.....! But I believe going small is too.... Quarks and Leptons have their internal particals / states of energy too... Vast either way..!

Al, I read that our brightest star in the heavens Sirus.... That IF it's companion (a White Dwarf) were a mere 10 or so Astonomical units closer (Astronomical unit = 92,955,807.3 mi the Earth Sun distance..), there would be mass exchange leading to fairly frequent Novas and eventualy to a BIG BOY Type 1A Supernova....... The novas could be harmful to us but the Type 1A would be our swan song........ Sirus is only some 8 - 9 light years away.... Just fortunatly the White Darf companion is just far enough away...!

On the way to Raton, NM for shoots out there, I love to pull over at night in the REALLY dark streches bet Clayton and Raton. Look up and just be amazed at our Galaxy.......... What a SIGHT..!

cale
 
alinwa said:
I said, unexpectedly...... having 100,000yrs to prepare for a white dwarf to go nova kinda' makes it less scarey :)

The one thing I think is really cool about supernova's, they're all the same size! Well not exactly the same "size" but the same brightness, their light output is regular within fractions of a unit. This is how they're used to date the universe.

al
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Al, from our perspective they are unexpected. The white dwarf is the end result of a nova.
 
caroby said:
The universe is BIG and Awesome.....! But I believe going small is too.... Quarks and Leptons have their internal particals / states of energy too... Vast either way..!

Al, I read that our brightest star in the heavens Sirus.... That IF it's companion (a White Dwarf) were a mere 10 or so Astonomical units closer (Astronomical unit = 92,955,807.3 mi the Earth Sun distance..), there would be mass exchange leading to fairly frequent Novas and eventualy to a BIG BOY Type 1A Supernova....... The novas could be harmful to us but the Type 1A would be our swan song........ Sirus is only some 8 - 9 light years away.... Just fortunatly the White Darf companion is just far enough away...!

On the way to Raton, NM for shoots out there, I love to pull over at night in the REALLY dark streches bet Clayton and Raton. Look up and just be amazed at our Galaxy.......... What a SIGHT..!

cale
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Cale, have been to the Texas Star Party near Ft. Davis once. Great, dark night skies. Winter Star Party too has awesome observing and at times some of the steadiest seeing conditions I've ever seen. Best though were the 5 nights I spend in 2002 on Mauna Kea on the big island at nearly 14000 feet above sea level. The visual of the night sky was just awesome, awesome, awesome. We had use of the 24 inch classical Cassegrain on the mountain courtesy of U of Hawaii for an amateur research project comparing the sensitivity of the human eye to a CCD chip. That was the trip of a lifetime for anyone interested in looking up at night!!
 
When I was a young pup I used to be amazed when looking at the stars. Had lots of strange thoughts, like some of you. Went to Oregon State College and took this great class on Meteorology, because of my interest in outer space. Our text book was not ready yet. The prof started talking about the weather, clouds and layers of the atmosphere, seemed logical, but he just kept talking about the weather during the 2nd class. I am now getting anxious and wanting to get on with the study of mereorites. Then the text book came.......Meteorology The Study of Weather. Very embarassing for a young male reaching his manhood. Didn't tell anyone for years. Don
 
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