Cowboy Cosmology

[Wayne]

The other thing about the blue map is it might help us discern whether 2 universes collided or 3. If there was just one band of yellow, that would indicate an intersection of 2 spheres.

2 spheres could also be indicated by one band (like an "equator") and 2 additional concentrations at the "poles" - this would correspond to mass coming from the center of the two previous universes.

If it's one band of yellow and then some other mess that might indicate 2 spheres plus a trigger. It's kinda hard to say but it looks like there's more mess, so for now I'm going with the 3rd universe trigger hypothesis.   

[injest]

Well, our universe is limited by what can be seen by telescopes. And what can be seen by a scope is limited by the speed of light.

The current understanding is the Big Bang happened 13.7 billion years ago, and I've read that galaxies have been identified that are 12 to 13 billion light-years away. That means the light we are seeing left those galaxies 12 to 13 billion years ago, so we are seeing them as they were in the first billion years or so after the BB.

Beyond that, there is a sphere of haze. There were no galaxies yet to send out any light. Presumably that haze prevents us from seeing any farther. So our universe more or less coincides with "everything produced by our Big Bang."

One could imagine though, that a clear enough spot could exist in the sphere of haze that you could see through it, and beyond to the product of another Big Bang. Probably just a dot, but a whole nother universe, as it existed many billions of years ago.

ok then...

my sister and I had an argument and I don't know anybody smart enough around here to take my side...

She is smart in that she can remember stuff...she is a nurse, and is good. but she doesnt' do well with thinking ?critically?...she can't take information and make a logical ok, she doesn't believe in natural sciences....for example, we never walked on the moon, there were no dinosaurs, and (this is the one that really drives me nuts) she doesn't believe light 'travels'. It is either on or off.

so we were discussing the stars and I was trying to explain that the light we see is from a long time ago because the stars are so far away it took a long time for it to arrive here...She said: no the light we are seeing is the actual light that the star is giving off right now, this minute.

well I TRIED to make an analogy with water....that if you turned on a hose and let it run for a minute, then turned it off, the water IN the hose already wouldn't just disappear...it would run out the end...she wouldn't accept that analogy because light is not water..

so then we got off into what IS light...(I know, I know: dumb and dumber trying to talk astronomy) and she said: If you have a light bulb that is sealed in a light proof box and you turned it on for a minute then turned it off and left it for a year, when you come back and opened it the light still wouldn't be in there...

so (she says) how could light from a star still exist millions of years later?

do YOU know? cause I am stumped....

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Jess you need the Grand Ole' Opry analogy.

Remember when we were kids and our grandparents would tell us they live so fa out in the country that the Saturday Night Show on the Grand Ole' Opry wouldn't reach them until Sunday morning?

[injest]

Jess you need the Grand Ole' Opry analogy.

Remember when we were kids and our grandparents would tell us they live so fa out in the country that the Saturday Night Show on the Grand Ole' Opry wouldn't reach them until Sunday morning?

 

[Wayne]

   Well, it is kinda like the Grand Ole Opry...

If you wait out in your yard to hear the sound from the G. O. O., the sound travels at 1100 feet per second, so it would take a while. Course the problem is it would be completely damped out by all the other noises going on, so you actually don't hear anything at all that has come from the G. O. O. Lessn you turn your radio on.   

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second, quite a good bit faster. And because there's not much in space to interfere with light traveling, we can actually see light that has trageled for 12 or 13 billion years before it arrives here.

Also "they" only recently established that gravity travels at just about the same speed as light.   

But yeah Jess you're right and your sister is wrong - you should probably just tell her that.   

[Wayne]

   Oh, here's some proof that your sister can actually witness her own self.  You know how when Anderson Cooper is in New York and Wolf Blitzer is in Baghdad? And when Anderson finishes talking and Wolf just kind of sits there like he's still listening but Anderson isn't talking any more?

Well that's the speed of light problem. In fact it happens twice. 1st, Wolf has to wait a little longer than we do to hear what Anderson says because for the signal to reach Wolf it has to go much farther - up to the satellite (and I'm guessing it then goes from there to another satellite) and then back down 6000 miles away, while it's only 1372 miles from New York to Dallas.

Then in the 2nd step, the image of Wolf has to return from Baghdad to Anderson and then to Dallas.

So what we see is Wolf still listening to the signal that has traveled to Baghdad at the speed of light*, while we have already heard the end of Anderson's question, which also traveled to us at the speed of light*.

Even though he has already started talking over there, we don't see him speak for another second or so.

*Except for the first little distance from Anderson to the microphone, and the last little distance between the TV speaker and our ear.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Same thing happens sometimes..............when people are on thorizine..........

[Wayne]

...........    .....   yeh

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4s4hW-oGZ0[/youtube]

[Wayne]

   I updated the name of the thread ...   

Hope y'all are having a good evenin'!

[injest]

  Oh, here's some proof that your sister can actually witness her own self.  You know how when Anderson Cooper is in New York and Wolf Blitzer is in Baghdad? And when Anderson finishes talking and Wolf just kind of sits there like he's still listening but Anderson isn't talking any more?

Well that's the speed of light problem. In fact it happens twice. 1st, Wolf has to wait a little longer than we do to hear what Anderson says because for the signal to reach Wolf it has to go much farther - up to the satellite (and I'm guessing it then goes from there to another satellite) and then back down 6000 miles away, while it's only 1372 miles from New York to Dallas.

Then in the 2nd step, the image of Wolf has to return from Baghdad to Anderson and then to Dallas.

So what we see is Wolf still listening to the signal that has traveled to Baghdad at the speed of light*, while we have already heard the end of Anderson's question, which also traveled to us at the speed of light*.

Even though he has already started talking over there, we don't see him speak for another second or so.

*Except for the first little distance from Anderson to the microphone, and the last little distance between the TV speaker and our ear.

that is cool!