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[peakish]

I mean, Is the concept of time the same in other places of the Universe relative to earth?

is time slower or faster or intermitent in other places? time is ever-present, right?

Relatitivity does assume that the laws of physics doesn't change depending on location so yes, the identical concepts of time would exist. But since space and time is interlinked the experience of time at another place will differ to our own, depending entirely on how fast their frame of reference is moving compared to our own. This is called time dilation and is taken into account for the internal clocks of our satellites to match up with ours: Time actually moves slower on them

Funnily enough, if somebody would be watching our clocks from the satellite it would be ours that would appear to be moving slower, not his, which has mindfucked quite a few students over the years!

is all in the observable universe in "our" present a a real thing or are there portions that is just the light/image/energy of a distant past reaching us and there's nothing really there? and if yes, then what's there now? dark matter?

Everything we see around is is light reaching us from some past. Stars and galaxies move while the light is still in transit, not necessarily to be filled in with something else (after all most of space is empty). We can actually see light reaching us from just a few hundred thousand years after the big bang, resulting in one of the coolest pictures ever created

And these are definitely not stupid questions, it took a lot of time for some of the smartest persons of our planet to work these problems out or just plain accept them even after seing experiments support them. Many scientific revolutions have had to fight very hard before getting accepted.

 

[Thursday War]

im not saying its aliens







.....





but its definitely aliens

 

[Naked Snake]

This is a well-written article explaining the discovery in layman terms:

https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/25c5d719187b

Evidence of the Universe From Before the Big Bang?
How an observational signature from Cosmic Inflation could herald the scientific revolution of the century

 

[King Boo]

dumb question, but where is earth in this picture? i know it wouldn't even be the size of a pixel, so i guess i should say where is our super galaxy cluster thing? or is this something else

 

[Graphics Horse]

dumb question, but where is earth in this picture? i know it wouldn't even be the size of a pixel, so i guess i should say where is our super galaxy cluster thing? or is this something else

This is taken from earth (or a satellite, can't remember), like a star chart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollweide_projection

 

[peakish]

dumb question, but where is earth in this picture? i know it wouldn't even be the size of a pixel, so i guess i should say where is our super galaxy cluster thing? or is this something else

This is taken from earth (or a satellite, can't remember), like a star chart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollweide_projection

It's actually not a picture of space, but of the cosmic microwave background: Radiation from (or rather shortly after) the Big Bang. Light created more than 13 billion years ago.

 

[King Boo]

This is taken from earth (or a satellite, can't remember), like a star chart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollweide_projection

It's actually not a picture of space, but of the cosmic microwave background: Radiation from (or rather shortly after) the Big Bang. Light created more than 13 billion years ago.

good, i learned a little something new today. thanks

 

[Demon Ice]

This is nuts. Seriously. This shit is better than magic. It's like magic that's real.

 

[synchronicity]

Who said life has to have a utility?

That's entirely my point.

 

[GungHo]

dumb question, but where is earth in this picture? i know it wouldn't even be the size of a pixel, so i guess i should say where is our super galaxy cluster thing? or is this something else

It's an all-sky projection of the view of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) from the Wilkinson Microwave Ansitropy Probe (WMAP). It's like asking where you are when you watch a TV show. You're not in the TV show. You're just seeing what the camera sees. In this case, the camera was hanging around Lagrange 2.

The Earth/Sun isn't shown at all because the satellite's mirrors are always facing away from the Sun... otherwise the instruments would get overwhelmed by the radiation. As it is, they had to subtract out all of the foreground radiation, because otherwise the "center" of the map would be overwhelmed by the galactic disk.

 

[The Technomancer]

That's entirely my point.

Which doesn't particularly address my point, which is that broadly speaking the utility of ideas matters, because ideas are instrumental in the development of change and often improve the human condition.

Philosophy is certainly important, but given the valid possibility that it is impossible to know anything versus the perspective that by acting as if we can science gets us close enough to an objective reality as to produce actual results ...well I'd argue one has done a lot more for the quality of life of billions of people then the other.

 

[Simon Belmont]

Which doesn't particularly address my point, which is that broadly speaking the utility of ideas matters, because ideas are instrumental in the development of change and often improve the human condition.

Philosophy is certainly important, but given the valid possibility that it is impossible to know anything versus the perspective that by acting as if it isn't science gets us close enough to an objective reality as to produce actual results ...well I'd argue one has done a lot more for the quality of life of billions of people then the other.

I agree. There's always more out there and we might be wrong about some things, but at the end of the day lasers work.

 

[IceCold]

dumb question, but where is earth in this picture? i know it wouldn't even be the size of a pixel, so i guess i should say where is our super galaxy cluster thing? or is this something else

Check this out:

Huge image:

 

[Cyan]

SInce they're able to observe the waves over time, are they able to determine the origin / 'center of the universe' ?

The center is everywhere.

 

[The Technomancer]

The center is everywhere.

Yeah, this is one of those mindfuck moments. Space and time are weird man.

 

[Agnostic]

The official press conference video has been posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iasqtm1prlI#t=10

 

[Caayn]

The center is everywhere.

Someone please explain, how? There must be an edge, after which it's just complete vacuum, of some sort somewhere right?

 

[Jinroh]

Someone please explain, how? There must be an edge, after which it's just complete vacuum, of some sort somewhere right?

There are many theories about the universe being spherical, flat, donut shaped... But its shape is currently not known.

But if I understand correctly if you were to move forward in some direction there's a chance you'd end up back where you started. You wouldn't hit an "edge" or anything like that.

Just imagine the universe as an expanding balloon and we reside on its surface.

 

[IceCold]

Someone please explain, how? There must be an edge, after which it's just complete vacuum, of some sort somewhere right?

Imagine the Universe as a balloon and all the planets, stars, galaxies are on its surface. The balloon is always expanding, there is no edge or center on the surface.

edit: Beaten by the above user.

 

[orientalNoodle]

The center is everywhere.

It is also no where at the same time.

 

[Cromat]

Someone please explain, how? There must be an edge, after which it's just complete vacuum, of some sort somewhere right?

If you keep walking in a straight line on Earth you'll never hit an edge or fall off because it is curved. Space can be the same. You'll never see an edge but you might end up where you started (chances are so much time would have passed that you wouldn't be able to recognize it though).

 

[danwarb]

The center is everywhere.

Everywhere was at the centre, but there'll be a galaxy somewhere with the dark to one side. The universe is a flat one.

 

[Caayn]

Thanks for the explanation.

But one thing about it irks me. We used to be incapable of flight leaving us tied to the surface of the earth but we were capable of looking upwards. Once our technology developed far enough we actually became capable of moving upwards. Now let's take this and apply this to the balloon example. Right now we're only capable of moving across the surface and we're incapable of looking upwards. So even if the universe is one giant ball/balloon/donut it must be possible to one day look upwards away from its surface, right?

Sorry if I'm being annoying. It's just that I find this really interesting.

 

[yankeehater]

The problem with the balloon analogy is the balloon is 2d and the universe is 3d, as far as we know. There is not another dimension to look up in to.

 

[zyxwvu4321]

Thanks for the explanation.

But one thing about it irks me. We used to be incapable of flight leaving us tied to the surface of the earth but we were capable of looking upwards. Once our technology developed far enough we actually became capable of moving upwards. Now let's take this and apply this to the balloon example. Right now we're only capable of moving across the surface and we're incapable of looking upwards. So even if the universe is one giant ball/balloon/donut it must be possible to one day look upwards away from its surface, right?

Sorry if I'm being annoying. It's just that I find this really interesting.

The thing of it is, there is no edge of the universe to look beyond. Just like the idea "time" before the Big Bang is meaningless, so is the idea of "space" outside the universe.

 

[heliosRAzi]

Someone please explain, how? There must be an edge, after which it's just complete vacuum, of some sort somewhere right?

The center is everywhere as other posters have said above, but if you are talking about the center of the observable universe, you are the center of it. I am also at the center of the observable universe. Cyan is at the center of the observable universe. Everyone is at the center of the observable universe.

If you were to travel to Andromeda, you would still be the center of the observable universe, but the universe that you can see would be different from what we see from Earth because you have traveled to a different part of the universe. It's like if we both live in New York and stood at the top of the Empire State Building. We'd be at the center of the observable US from our perspective and we can see as far as the horizon. If you were to go to the Space Needle in Seattle, you'd be at the center of the observable US, but it would completely different from what I saw at the Empire State Building.

Here's a video that has a much better explanation than I do

 

[sphinx]

And honestly, the idea of alternate universes is more terrifying than the idea of one infinite one. Because I can only imagine that you wouldn't be able to have a finite number of alternate universes.

this is it people.

I just watched the whole conference on youtube (MANY thanks for that link!!) and exactly at minute 47, people in the audience confirm that most current inflation models lead to or require the existence of a multiverse....

Alcoremortis, I hope you can sleep tonight...

fuck, this is so fascinating, I am all hyped.

 

[orientalNoodle]

Multiverse is an interesting idea, but an infinite multiverse is troubling for me. Because of the concept of infinity, that means there are infinitely many versions of me, pass present and future, in an infinite ocean of multiverse. If that is the case, then which is the real me?

 

[sphinx]

Multiverse is an interesting idea, but an infinite multiverse is troubling for me. Because of the concept of infinity, that means there are infinitely many versions of me, pass present and future, in an infinite ocean of multiverse. If that is the case, then which is the real me?

wait, why are we asuming multiverse means copy/paste versions of this exact unvierse we live in? I gotta read more about it,

 

[MThanded]

I went to read that paper. good lord there are a shit ton of authors.

 

[Alcoremortis]

this is it people.

I just watched the whole conference on youtube (MANY thanks for that link!!) and exactly at minute 47, people in the audience confirm that most current inflation models lead to or require the existence of a multiverse....

Alcoremortis, I hope you can sleep tonight...

fuck, this is so fascinating, I am all hyped.

Well, fuck. I will never sleep again.

Though, only partially due to multiverse terror. The rest due to trying to figure out how to get to one. I mean, if we assume infinite possibility along with infinite universes, there has got to be a universe where humanity didn't have the Dark Ages or all those random wars and has already figured out warp technology or at least discovered negative mass exotic matter, right?

Fingers crossed on this one.

 

[orientalNoodle]

wait, why are we asuming multiverse means copy/paste versions of this exact unvierse we live in? I gotta read more about it,

Well I am not familiar with the concept, but each pocket universe has a finite number of possible quantum state arrangements. If we have an infinite number of pocket universe, then at some point, all these quantum state arrangements would repeat. And me as a person is nothing but a collection of quantum states.

 

[$200]

wait, why are we asuming multiverse means copy/paste versions of this exact unvierse we live in? I gotta read more about it,

I've always seen multiverse as something that was created to make sense of time travelling (backwards), which imo is not possible.

 

[Azulsky]

There are many theories about the universe being spherical, flat, donut shaped... But its shape is currently not known.

But if I understand correctly if you were to move forward in some direction there's a chance you'd end up back where you started. You wouldn't hit an "edge" or anything like that.

Just imagine the universe as an expanding balloon and we reside on its surface.

They are getting more sure it is flat. Not nearly 5 sigma sure.

I've always seen multiverse as something that was created to make sense of time travelling (backwards), which imo is not possible.

There are some ideas coming together that seek to link black holes with creation of new universes. They are trying to link up dark energy(which keeps the expansion going) and remove singularities. I read a preliminary tidbit that one explanation for dark energy might be that a black hole imparts its spin to the universe it creates.

Math folks dont like singularities, it ruins the poetry of the equations, and for the most part the universe is pretty clean with the numbers, like the apparent flatness of spacetime I mentioned above.

Cosmology is crazy stuff.

 

[Jak140]

Multiverse is an interesting idea, but an infinite multiverse is troubling for me. Because of the concept of infinity, that means there are infinitely many versions of me, pass present and future, in an infinite ocean of multiverse. If that is the case, then which is the real me?

The real you is a matter of perspective. From yours, even if you had an infinite number of perfect clones of you, completely indistinguishable from you by the outside world, as far as you are concerned the only you is yourself, the one you experience the world through. You can't literally perceive the world through your clones' eyes. Of course this then hurtles at you the sticky wicket of what consciousness is, so maybe that doesn't help at all.

 

[mario_O]

Lawrence Krauss explaining in layman's terms what this means.
http://www.azpbs.org/arizonahorizon/detailvid.php?id=14858

 

[VanquishUK]

Lawrence Krauss explaining in layman's terms what this means.
http://www.azpbs.org/arizonahorizon/detailvid.php?id=14858

Great video but god that video player sucks.

 

[$200]

There are some ideas coming together that seek to link black holes with creation of new universes. They are trying to link up dark energy(which keeps the expansion going) and remove singularities. I read a preliminary tidbit that one explanation for dark energy might be that a black hole imparts its spin to the universe it creates.

Math folks dont like singularities, it ruins the poetry of the equations, and for the most part the universe is pretty clean with the numbers, like the apparent flatness of spacetime I mentioned above.

Cosmology is crazy stuff.

Even if there are multiple universes the chance of them being identical are nearly impossible unless you can assume an universe is a closed system, which also seems unlikely if there are multiple of them.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Yeah the concept of space has always intruiged me. It goes inward and outward though. It seems inward space is just as infinite as outward. My meaning is, you can always zoom a bit further. We thought at some point Cells were it. Then we found the Atoms. Then we found the things that make atoms. Then we are seeing the stuff that forms Neutrons and Protons ( whats it called, Quarks or something like that? ). And then what creates the thing that creates Protons lol.

The same way you can continually zoom out and out and out, you can also do the same thing zooming in and in and in. Really, if you were able, you could zoom in so far you would no longer see whatever it is you were a part of in the first place. Hell, if you zoomed out enough, our universe would be non-existent. Such like that. I always loved how Atoms seemed like duplicates of a solar system structure, a bit anyway.

 

[Chichikov]

Big Bang, the theory, has always seems to me as a conformist, dogmatic explanation of the beginning of all. How come causality is so important for physics *except* when it comes to the Big Bang?.

Causality is still really important, it just really hard to figure out the causes of the big bang. and mind you, people are trying to that, and if someone figure it out that will be the holy grail to end all holy grails of astrophysics.
By the way, such discoveries might actually help us understand the causes of the big bang.

p.s.
Regardless of that, not sure how you got to conformists and dogmatic, that's like saying the evolution is conformist and dogmatic because we don't know the origin of life.

 

[zerosum]

I was informed this morning that this was all bullshit. That none of it makes sense, and it has to be made up.

I was told that we don't have any proof that the stars aren't actually in the sky, that it's impossible to know how far away they really are.

Even got to the point that I was told we can't measure speed, and that distance is unknowable without having first been to the point of origin.

Using simple math and an example of driving a car down the block to explain the concept of measurement, and that we could in fact measure the speed at which things travel... I was then told it doesn't matter anyway because in 100 years scientists will just "change speed and distance to make up more stuff".

This was a "straight A student"... and the mother of my child...

All because I was excited and shared this with her this morning.

 

[simplayer]

I was informed this morning that this was all bullshit. That none of it makes sense, and it has to be made up.

I was told that we don't have any proof that the stars aren't actually in the sky, that it's impossible to know how far away they really are.

Even got to the point that I was told we can't measure speed, and that distance is unknowable without having first been to the point of origin.

Using simple math and an example of driving a car down the block to explain the concept of measurement, and that we could in fact measure the speed at which things travel... I was then told it doesn't matter anyway because in 100 years scientists will just "change speed and distance to make up more stuff".

This was a "straight A student"... and the mother of my child...

All because I was excited and shared this with her this morning.

It's all over, get a divorce now

 

[Sheroking]

I was informed this morning that this was all bullshit. That none of it makes sense, and it has to be made up.

I was told that we don't have any proof that the stars aren't actually in the sky, that it's impossible to know how far away they really are.

Even got to the point that I was told we can't measure speed, and that distance is unknowable without having first been to the point of origin.

Using simple math and an example of driving a car down the block to explain the concept of measurement, and that we could in fact measure the speed at which things travel... I was then told it doesn't matter anyway because in 100 years scientists will just "change speed and distance to make up more stuff".

This was a "straight A student"... and the mother of my child...

All because I was excited and shared this with her this morning.

Your poor kids gene pool.

 

[mario_O]

Great video but god that video player sucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKyucYdwz_Q

 

[GaimeGuy]

I was informed this morning that this was all bullshit. That none of it makes sense, and it has to be made up.

I was told that we don't have any proof that the stars aren't actually in the sky, that it's impossible to know how far away they really are.

Even got to the point that I was told we can't measure speed, and that distance is unknowable without having first been to the point of origin.

Using simple math and an example of driving a car down the block to explain the concept of measurement, and that we could in fact measure the speed at which things travel... I was then told it doesn't matter anyway because in 100 years scientists will just "change speed and distance to make up more stuff".

This was a "straight A student"... and the mother of my child...

All because I was excited and shared this with her this morning.

... I'm sorry.

 

[Teknoman]

Or what if the universe was created as a result of an experiment in another universe which was destroyed when ours was created.

I wish more movies or games would take a spin on this as well. I think the only one to do so...recently anyway...was Xenoblade.

 

[RagnarokX]

I was informed this morning that this was all bullshit. That none of it makes sense, and it has to be made up.

I was told that we don't have any proof that the stars aren't actually in the sky, that it's impossible to know how far away they really are.

Even got to the point that I was told we can't measure speed, and that distance is unknowable without having first been to the point of origin.

Using simple math and an example of driving a car down the block to explain the concept of measurement, and that we could in fact measure the speed at which things travel... I was then told it doesn't matter anyway because in 100 years scientists will just "change speed and distance to make up more stuff".

This was a "straight A student"... and the mother of my child...

All because I was excited and shared this with her this morning.

My condolences. Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

 

[Raonak]

one Universe theory I have is that, because space is relative, there can be a whole complete universe anywhere.... I mean, aren't we, earth and humans, like a very small minuscule, microscopic specimen in the bigger scheme oif things? if we take the observable universe around us as size reference, one human is the size of a cell or an atom. If we can exist and create all this nice things on this earth, why can't something similar like the universe exist in a small version anywhere?

That's entirely possible, but another way to think of it is that, the big bang wasn't like a tiny explosion happening in an infinitely large room, but rather, the big bang was the room itself expanding.

but SOMETHING must have been there in order for a big bang to take place and something must have caused the explosion.

I just can't accept, "there was nothing and then BAM, big bang, there, history begins there".

Not really, things pop into and out of existance all the time in the subatomic scale, a scale that is just as mindboggling as the large scale universe. Actually it's even more preplexing with quantum mechanics. If you think comprehending whats beyond the universe is, then wikipedia up that shit. especially quantum entanglement. The further we look in either scale, the more bizziare and unrelatiable stuff becomes to the point we as humans probably wouldn't be able to comprehend it.

 

[Mgoblue201]

wait, why are we asuming multiverse means copy/paste versions of this exact unvierse we live in? I gotta read more about it,

"Multiverse" is a very broad term; it has different implications depending upon the models and theories one wants to use. One potential consequence of inflation, for example, is the creation of "pocket universes", with each pocket representing a single observable patch. This would require the larger universe (or multiverse, or whatever) to be eternally inflating, as Wikipedia explains:

"In many models of inflation, the inflationary phase of the universe's expansion lasts forever in at least some regions of the universe. This occurs because inflating regions expand very rapidly, reproducing themselves. Unless the rate of decay to the non-inflating phase is sufficiently fast, new inflating regions are produced more rapidly than non-inflating regions. In such models most of the volume of the universe at any given time is inflating. All models of eternal inflation produce an infinite multiverse, typically a fractal."

Physicist Sean Carroll explains generally how these pocket universes would differ from our own. It's important to note that when he uses the term vacuum state, he's referring to the quantum state with the lowest possible level of energy, even in a vacuum. If eternal inflation is correct, then pocket universes would arise when higher energy regions of space decay into bubbles of true vacuums via quantum fluctuations. According to Carroll:

"Local laws of physics can be very different in each of those pocket universes. [In the accompanying graph], we illustrated three different vacuum states. But there is nothing to stop there from being many more than that. As we alluded to briefly in Chapter Twelve, string theory seems to predict a huge number of vacuum states - as many as 10^500, if not more. Each such state is a different phase in which spacetime can find itself. That means different kinds of particles, with different masses and interactions - basically, completely new laws of physics in each universe. Again, that's a bit of an abuse of language, because the underlying laws (string theory, or whatever) are still the same; but they manifest themselves in different ways, just like water can be solid, liquid, or gas. String theorists these days refer to the landscape of possible vacuum states."

 

[Ashes]

My condolences. Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk

Abstract words and concrete ideas. I guess some things just don't sink in for some people.