Expansion of the Universe
Discussion
Almost definately a numpty question here and probably well covered previosly so apologies for that.
Watched a science doc last week (Horizon maybe?), which stated that the 'observable' universe was presently 46+ billion light years in diameter, and apparently accelerating to boot (due to dark energy perhaps). Much of the program was conjecture, outlining current thinking on the subject.
The thing that troubles me is if the big bang occurred only 13.8 billion years ago, how can the universe already be so big if you allow for a cosmic speed limit of light speed only? Do we have to go into discussions about time dilation/distortion and all that mind bending guff?
In addition, the likelihood that the universe is infinite was strongly put forward and paradoxically that there could be many 'infinite' universes. It's all gone off into the realms of Lewis Carol for me. Will scientists of the future look back at present thinking in the same way we view flat-earthers now?
Watched a science doc last week (Horizon maybe?), which stated that the 'observable' universe was presently 46+ billion light years in diameter, and apparently accelerating to boot (due to dark energy perhaps). Much of the program was conjecture, outlining current thinking on the subject.
The thing that troubles me is if the big bang occurred only 13.8 billion years ago, how can the universe already be so big if you allow for a cosmic speed limit of light speed only? Do we have to go into discussions about time dilation/distortion and all that mind bending guff?
In addition, the likelihood that the universe is infinite was strongly put forward and paradoxically that there could be many 'infinite' universes. It's all gone off into the realms of Lewis Carol for me. Will scientists of the future look back at present thinking in the same way we view flat-earthers now?
fausTVR said:
Almost definately a numpty question here and probably well covered previosly so apologies for that.
Watched a science doc last week (Horizon maybe?), which stated that the 'observable' universe was presently 46+ billion light years in diameter, and apparently accelerating to boot (due to dark energy perhaps). Much of the program was conjecture, outlining current thinking on the subject.
The thing that troubles me is if the big bang occurred only 13.8 billion years ago, how can the universe already be so big if you allow for a cosmic speed limit of light speed only? Do we have to go into discussions about time dilation/distortion and all that mind bending guff?
In addition, the likelihood that the universe is infinite was strongly put forward and paradoxically that there could be many 'infinite' universes. It's all gone off into the realms of Lewis Carol for me. Will scientists of the future look back at present thinking in the same way we view flat-earthers now?
i saw the same show and the thing that suddenly struck me was that if the speed of light is the upper speed limit but space itself is expanding then surely(from the perspective of an observer outside this universe looking in) light speed is being exceeded?? speed of light + expantion add up to more than the speed of light when looking into the universe from outside it??Watched a science doc last week (Horizon maybe?), which stated that the 'observable' universe was presently 46+ billion light years in diameter, and apparently accelerating to boot (due to dark energy perhaps). Much of the program was conjecture, outlining current thinking on the subject.
The thing that troubles me is if the big bang occurred only 13.8 billion years ago, how can the universe already be so big if you allow for a cosmic speed limit of light speed only? Do we have to go into discussions about time dilation/distortion and all that mind bending guff?
In addition, the likelihood that the universe is infinite was strongly put forward and paradoxically that there could be many 'infinite' universes. It's all gone off into the realms of Lewis Carol for me. Will scientists of the future look back at present thinking in the same way we view flat-earthers now?
or have i not grasped the fundamentals correctly?
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