questions about the universe...

I was hoping someone could help me with the following question. I am trying
to understand something of the size of the universe, and I came accross a
quote that said "the universe is expanding in all directions, and that the
'Cosmic Microwave Background' (the remaining heat from the Big Bang, is
found at a distance of 15 billion light years from us in all directions."

Tow questions result from this:
- does this not suggest the universe is ball-shaped, and
- that the earth is pretty much at the centre of the universe, near where
the Big Bang occurred?

Any input you can give me (in laymen's terms, please) would be welcome!

Rogier

"Roger" hit some keys randomly and said:

I was hoping someone could help me with the following question. I am
trying
to understand something of the size of the universe, and I came accross a
quote that said "the universe is expanding in all directions, and that the
'Cosmic Microwave Background' (the remaining heat from the Big Bang, is
found at a distance of 15 billion light years from us in all directions."

Tow questions result from this:
- does this not suggest the universe is ball-shaped, and
- that the earth is pretty much at the centre of the universe, near where
the Big Bang occurred?

Any input you can give me (in laymen's terms, please) would be welcome!

Rogier


I expect Pat or OM to cain me for anything I say here that is not text book
correct, but here is my interpretation from some books and sources i've read
(including steven hawking: universe in a nutshell, and a brief history of
time)

Yes, the universe is expanding in all directions, so in essence it is a
sphere (or sphere like universe) however it gets interesteing because the
universe expands at the speed of light... the CMB radiation is exactly that,
its background... we are by no means the centre of the universe... thats
pretty christian and egocentric :-)

The way ive interpreted it, correct or not, is that with all the energy and
comotion of the 'big bang' its early stages were very non uniformed... I
guess if you compare it to your regular explosion or firework, the immediate
explosion is not round within, lets say 1 ft diameter, but the sparks that
fly out eventually turn into a ball... the rate of expansion evens out but
is still not completely uniform... NASA has some pictures of the CMB
radiation which shows this... i'm sure you've looked...

I guess when it comes to the universe all we can do is rely on a theory
until another one that proves that little bit more comes along, then we
shift our thinking in that direction... its been a while since i've read the
steven hawking books but they are brilliant and well worth borrowing from
your local library or buying on amazon.com... not sure if they are available
as ebooks yet... here's hoping

Hope this helps... now i'll wait and see what the gang have to say hehe :P
Go easy guys!

Niko

"Roger" wrote in message
. nl...
I was hoping someone could help me with the following question. I am
trying
to understand something of the size of the universe, and I came accross a
quote that said "the universe is expanding in all directions, and that the
'Cosmic Microwave Background' (the remaining heat from the Big Bang, is
found at a distance of 15 billion light years from us in all directions."

Tow questions result from this:
- does this not suggest the universe is ball-shaped, and
- that the earth is pretty much at the centre of the universe, near where
the Big Bang occurred?

The 'ball' that we see could be just a bubble in the ocean. The universe
could
be much greater than the part we can see.
The size of the ball is limited by the age of the universe - the light
coming from the most distant
parts of the ball (the edge) needed a very long time (the age of the
universe) to come to us -
and this is exactly the 'Cosmic Microwave Background'.


Any input you can give me (in laymen's terms, please) would be welcome!

Rogier


JD

Niko Holm wrote:

I expect Pat or OM to cain me for anything I say here that is not text book
correct


Pat gonna stick to stuff he know about- like V-2 rockets... :-)

Pat

Let's assume you go back in time, say, 15 billion years and you watch the
Big Bang. Next to the Big Bang, still the size of a pinhead, you've got this
nifty stopwatch saying "ZERO". Meaning of course, that the TIME as we know
it has just started.

Now, as the big bang expands, as the worlds form themselves, as your stomach
turns, as the suns light up, explode, etc. you look at your watch one day
and it says "15 billion years".

The world is now a lot bigger amd all that's left of the big bang is the
background radiation. A scientist will now tell you, that if you went 15
billion light years to the borders of the universe you would go back in time
15 billion years. This, she tells you, is supported by the fact that the
further you go in the universe the older the objects are (red shift, bla
bla, etc.)

Now, from a logical point of view this can't be true because the more you go
back in time the SMALLER the universe was. Remember, at T=ZERO it was the
size of a pin. Are you following me? Let's say you and your buddy both
wanted to look a the big bang, and he went 15 billion light years in one
direction and you 15 billion light years in the opposite direction. When you
got there, you would have to meet, because both of you are in the small (15
billion year old) universe. But it is impossible to meet because you are in
fact 30 billion light years apart. So, I, personally, myself, think that the
shape of the universe can't be spherical.

I think what we need is another Einstein or Feynman to figure this out.


Robert
"Roger" wrote in message
. nl...
I was hoping someone could help me with the following question. I am
trying
to understand something of the size of the universe, and I came accross a
quote that said "the universe is expanding in all directions, and that the
'Cosmic Microwave Background' (the remaining heat from the Big Bang, is
found at a distance of 15 billion light years from us in all directions."

Tow questions result from this:
- does this not suggest the universe is ball-shaped, and
- that the earth is pretty much at the centre of the universe, near where
the Big Bang occurred?

Any input you can give me (in laymen's terms, please) would be welcome!

Rogier

Looking far out into the universe and seeing light emitted from distant
galaxies confuses me when it's said that we are seeing 15 billion years into
the past. If those distant galaxies are indeed 15 billion light years away
and the light took 15 billion years to get to earth, then what's happened to
those objects since that light left them 15 billion years ago? And... if
that light left those objects 15 billion years ago and it took 15 billion
years for the light to get to earth... what about the time it took for those
objects to get 15 billion light years away from earth?

"Jededia Jones" wrote in message
...
Let's assume you go back in time, say, 15 billion years and you watch the
Big Bang. Next to the Big Bang, still the size of a pinhead, you've got this
nifty stopwatch saying "ZERO". Meaning of course, that the TIME as we know
it has just started.

Now, as the big bang expands, as the worlds form themselves, as your stomach
turns, as the suns light up, explode, etc. you look at your watch one day
and it says "15 billion years".

The world is now a lot bigger amd all that's left of the big bang is the
background radiation. A scientist will now tell you, that if you went 15
billion light years to the borders of the universe you would go back in time
15 billion years. This, she tells you, is supported by the fact that the
further you go in the universe the older the objects are (red shift, bla
bla, etc.)

Now, from a logical point of view this can't be true because the more you go
back in time the SMALLER the universe was. Remember, at T=ZERO it was the
size of a pin. Are you following me? Let's say you and your buddy both
wanted to look a the big bang, and he went 15 billion light years in one
direction and you 15 billion light years in the opposite direction. When you
got there, you would have to meet, because both of you are in the small (15
billion year old) universe. But it is impossible to meet because you are in
fact 30 billion light years apart. So, I, personally, myself, think that the
shape of the universe can't be spherical.

I think what we need is another Einstein or Feynman to figure this out.


Robert
"Roger" wrote in message
. nl...
I was hoping someone could help me with the following question. I am
trying
to understand something of the size of the universe, and I came accross a
quote that said "the universe is expanding in all directions, and that the
'Cosmic Microwave Background' (the remaining heat from the Big Bang, is
found at a distance of 15 billion light years from us in all directions."

Tow questions result from this:
- does this not suggest the universe is ball-shaped, and
- that the earth is pretty much at the centre of the universe, near where
the Big Bang occurred?

Any input you can give me (in laymen's terms, please) would be welcome!

Rogier