Big Bang Theory: Science Or Religion
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Is the Universe Expanding?: an Historical and Philosophical Perspective for Cosmologists Starting Anew
Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 6-1996 Is the Universe Expanding?: An Historical and Philosophical Perspective for Cosmologists Starting Anew David A. Vlosak Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons Recommended Citation Vlosak, David A., "Is the Universe Expanding?: An Historical and Philosophical Perspective for Cosmologists Starting Anew" (1996). Master's Theses. 3474. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3474 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IS THEUN IVERSE EXPANDING?: AN HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE FOR COSMOLOGISTS STAR TING ANEW by David A Vlasak A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe Degree of Master of Arts Department of Philosophy Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 1996 IS THE UNIVERSE EXPANDING?: AN HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE FOR COSMOLOGISTS STARTING ANEW David A Vlasak, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1996 This study addresses the problem of how scientists ought to go about resolving the current crisis in big bang cosmology. Although this problem can be addressed by scientists themselves at the level of their own practice, this study addresses it at the meta level by using the resources offered by philosophy of science. There are two ways to resolve the current crisis. -
Winter Constellations
Winter Constellations *Orion *Canis Major *Monoceros *Canis Minor *Gemini *Auriga *Taurus *Eradinus *Lepus *Monoceros *Cancer *Lynx *Ursa Major *Ursa Minor *Draco *Camelopardalis *Cassiopeia *Cepheus *Andromeda *Perseus *Lacerta *Pegasus *Triangulum *Aries *Pisces *Cetus *Leo (rising) *Hydra (rising) *Canes Venatici (rising) Orion--Myth: Orion, the great hunter. In one myth, Orion boasted he would kill all the wild animals on the earth. But, the earth goddess Gaia, who was the protector of all animals, produced a gigantic scorpion, whose body was so heavily encased that Orion was unable to pierce through the armour, and was himself stung to death. His companion Artemis was greatly saddened and arranged for Orion to be immortalised among the stars. Scorpius, the scorpion, was placed on the opposite side of the sky so that Orion would never be hurt by it again. To this day, Orion is never seen in the sky at the same time as Scorpius. DSO’s ● ***M42 “Orion Nebula” (Neb) with Trapezium A stellar nursery where new stars are being born, perhaps a thousand stars. These are immense clouds of interstellar gas and dust collapse inward to form stars, mainly of ionized hydrogen which gives off the red glow so dominant, and also ionized greenish oxygen gas. The youngest stars may be less than 300,000 years old, even as young as 10,000 years old (compared to the Sun, 4.6 billion years old). 1300 ly. 1 ● *M43--(Neb) “De Marin’s Nebula” The star-forming “comma-shaped” region connected to the Orion Nebula. ● *M78--(Neb) Hard to see. A star-forming region connected to the Orion Nebula. -
An Overview of New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics About the National Academies
2020 VISION An Overview of New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics About the National Academies The National Academies—comprising the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council—work together to enlist the nation’s top scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts to study specific issues in science, technology, and medicine that underlie many questions of national importance. The results of their deliberations have inspired some of the nation’s most significant and lasting efforts to improve the health, education, and welfare of the United States and have provided independent advice on issues that affect people’s lives worldwide. To learn more about the Academies’ activities, check the website at www.nationalacademies.org. Copyright 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America This study was supported by Contract NNX08AN97G between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Contract AST-0743899 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation, and Contract DE-FG02-08ER41542 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Energy. Support for this study was also provided by the Vesto Slipher Fund. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agencies that provided support for the project. 2020 VISION An Overview of New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics ROGER D. -
Experiencing Hubble
PRESCOTT ASTRONOMY CLUB PRESENTS EXPERIENCING HUBBLE John Carter August 7, 2019 GET OUT LOOK UP • When Galaxies Collide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP3x7TgvgR8 • How Hubble Images Get Color https://www.youtube.com/watch? time_continue=3&v=WSG0MnmUsEY Experiencing Hubble Sagittarius Star Cloud 1. 12,000 stars 2. ½ percent of full Moon area. 3. Not one star in the image can be seen by the naked eye. 4. Color of star reflects its surface temperature. Eagle Nebula. M 16 1. Messier 16 is a conspicuous region of active star formation, appearing in the constellation Serpens Cauda. This giant cloud of interstellar gas and dust is commonly known as the Eagle Nebula, and has already created a cluster of young stars. The nebula is also referred to the Star Queen Nebula and as IC 4703; the cluster is NGC 6611. With an overall visual magnitude of 6.4, and an apparent diameter of 7', the Eagle Nebula's star cluster is best seen with low power telescopes. The brightest star in the cluster has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. A 4" scope reveals about 20 stars in an uneven background of fainter stars and nebulosity; three nebulous concentrations can be glimpsed under good conditions. Under very good conditions, suggestions of dark obscuring matter can be seen to the north of the cluster. In an 8" telescope at low power, M 16 is an impressive object. The nebula extends much farther out, to a diameter of over 30'. It is filled with dark regions and globules, including a peculiar dark column and a luminous rim around the cluster. -
The Flint River Observer a Frac Special Edition The
1 How it happened is an intriguing tale. Many astronomers considered the change to be a long- THE overdue step in advancing astronomy as a science -- and as many others regarded it as a deception perpetrated by the International Astronomical FLINT RIVER Union (IAU). Curiously, both sides were right. I’ve written about it before, but this Special OBSERVER Edition of the Observer is broader in scope. Written 22 yrs. after the event, it tells both sides of NEWSLETTER OF THE FLINT the story in far greater depth than previously. RIVER ASTRONOMY CLUB (Incidentally, this project began as a brief “This ‘n That” newsletter item about an article that An Affiliate of the appeared in Astronomy Magazine but quickly grew Astronomical League into something much larger. You’ll see what I was writing about on p. 6.) Special Edition October, 2018 -Bill __________________________________________ * * * A FRAC SPECIAL EDITION THE PLUTO QUESTION: What is a Planet? Beginnings. The discovery of Neptune by William Lassell in 1846 brought the solar system’s planet total to eight. However, wobbles in the by Bill Warren orbital paths of Uranus and Neptune led the American astronomer, founder and director of __________________ Lowell Observatory, Percival Lowell, to conclude that a ninth planet -- he called it Planet X – lay Introduction. If you were born before 1990, you somewhere beyond Neptune and was tugging probably remember how upset people were when gravitationally on that planet and Uranus. Lowell Pluto was removed from the solar system’s family died in 1916, but in 1929 Vesto Slipher, his of planets in 1996. -
Astronomy 422
Astronomy 422 Lecture 15: Expansion and Large Scale Structure of the Universe Key concepts: Hubble Flow Clusters and Large scale structure Gravitational Lensing Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Expansion and age of the Universe • Slipher (1914) found that most 'spiral nebulae' were redshifted. • Hubble (1929): "Spiral nebulae" are • other galaxies. – Measured distances with Cepheids – Found V=H0d (Hubble's Law) • V is called recessional velocity, but redshift due to stretching of photons as Universe expands. • V=H0D is natural result of uniform expansion of the universe, and also provides a powerful distance determination method. • However, total observed redshift is due to expansion of the universe plus a galaxy's motion through space (peculiar motion). – For example, the Milky Way and M31 approaching each other at 119 km/s. • Hubble Flow : apparent motion of galaxies due to expansion of space. v ~ cz • Cosmological redshift: stretching of photon wavelength due to expansion of space. Recall relativistic Doppler shift: Thus, as long as H0 constant For z<<1 (OK within z ~ 0.1) What is H0? Main uncertainty is distance, though also galaxy peculiar motions play a role. Measurements now indicate H0 = 70.4 ± 1.4 (km/sec)/Mpc. Sometimes you will see For example, v=15,000 km/s => D=210 Mpc = 150 h-1 Mpc. Hubble time The Hubble time, th, is the time since Big Bang assuming a constant H0. How long ago was all of space at a single point? Consider a galaxy now at distance d from us, with recessional velocity v. At time th ago it was at our location For H0 = 71 km/s/Mpc Large scale structure of the universe • Density fluctuations evolve into structures we observe (galaxies, clusters etc.) • On scales > galaxies we talk about Large Scale Structure (LSS): – groups, clusters, filaments, walls, voids, superclusters • To map and quantify the LSS (and to compare with theoretical predictions), we use redshift surveys. -
Dark Matter Particles with Low Mass (And FTL)
Dark Matter Particles with Low Mass (and FTL) Xiaodong Huang Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095, U.S.A. Wuliang Huang Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences P.O. Box 918(3), Beijing 100049, China Abstract: From the observed results of the space distribution of quasars and the mass scale sequence table, we deduced the existence of superstructures (feeble dark structure) with mass scale of 1019 solar mass, as well as the lightest stable fermion with mass of 10"1 eV, in the universe. From the observed results of ultra-high energy primary cosmic ray spectrum (“knee” and “ankle”), quasar irradiation spectrum (“IR bump” and “blue bump”), and Extragalactic Background Light (“IR peak” and “blue peak”), we deduced that the mass of ! 1 ! the neutrino is about 10" eV and the mass of the fourth stable elementary particle (" ) is about 100eV. While neutrino ! is related to electro-weak field, the fourth stable elementary particle! is related to gravitation-“strong” field, and some new meta-stable baryons may appear near the TeV region. Therefore, a twofold standard model diagram is ! proposed, and! involves some experiment phenomena: The new meta-stable baryons’ ! decays produce! particles, which are helpful in explaining the Dijet asymmetry phenomena at LHC of CERN, the different results for the Fermilab’s data peak, etc; However, according to the (B-L) invariance, the sterile “neutrino” about the event excess in MiniBooNe is not the fourth neutrino but rather the! particle; We think that the! particles are related to the phenomenon about neutrinos FTL, and that anti-neutrinos are faster than neutrinos. -
Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed Individual Bright Stars in Andromeda
The Resolution: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed individual bright stars in Andromeda • Calculated the distance using the Period-Luminosity Relation for Cepheid Variable Stars The Resolution: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed individual bright stars in Andromeda • Calculated the distance using the Period-Luminosity Relation for Cepheid Variable Stars 1. MEASURED magnitude & Period The Resolution: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed individual bright stars in Andromeda • Calculated the distance using the Period-Luminosity Relation for Cepheid Variable Stars 1. MEASURED magnitude & Period 2. CALCULATED Luminosity The Resolution: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed individual bright stars in Andromeda • Calculated the distance using the Period-Luminosity Relation for Cepheid Variable Stars 1. MEASURED magnitude & Period 2. CALCULATED Luminosity 3. CALCULATED Distance The Resolution: Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) Measured Distance to Andromeda Galaxy (M31) • Noticed individual bright stars in Andromeda • Calculated the distance using the Period-Luminosity Relation for Cepheid Variable Stars 1. MEASURED magnitude & Period 2. CALCULATED Luminosity 3. CALCULATED Distance • Result was MUCH farther than expected... • (2.3 Million Ly - well beyond Milky Way) Henrietta Leavitt & Period-Luminosity Relation Cepheid Variables: Bright stars whose Luminosity (energy output) varies every -
What If the Mars Rover Does Find Lostgenius Whomerits Aplaceon Thepodium
Thursday, August 30, 2012 THE IRISH TIMES 11 ScienceScience EditorTodayDick Ahlstrom e-mail [email protected] CORMAC Ó What if the Mars Rover does find RAIFEARTAIGH Lost genius Proof of who merits a place on the podium Who knows about Vesto Slipher, life? the astronomer who inspired the work of Edwin Hubble? NE OF the great surprises of 20th century science was the discovery that Oour universe is expanding. The finding caused a paradigm shift in cosmology and eventually led to today’s “Big Bang” model of the origin of the universe. It is therefore quite puzzling that a scientist who played a key role in the discovery remains virtually unknown to scientists and the general public alike. Step forward Vesto Slipher, the American astronomer who first established that the most distant objects in the sky are moving away from one another at high speed. Vesto Melvin Slipher was born in the US state of Indiana in 1875. He was educated at Indiana University and took up a position at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona after receiving his degree in 1901. There, he showed himself to be an astronomer of exceptional talent. In particular, he pioneered a method of measuring the motion of stars with the use of a spectrograph, an instrument that analyses the spectrum of light emitted by a body. Slipher used his new technique to study the attempting to answer questions “A laser on Curiosity’s mast cre- many details about the analysis of Is there anything out there? An Kevin Nolan, lecturer in physics at most enigmatic astronomical objects of the BECCA WILSON about Martian life. -
The “Dipole Repeller” Explained
The “Dipole Repeller” Explained by Clark M. Thomas © 03/15/2017 Introduction Earlier this year, in 2017, a major article was published in Nature on a vast dipole gravity phenomenon now known as the Shapley Attractor and the Dipole Repeller.1 A helpful short video is included.2 Its thesis was largely based on studies of red-shift spectral data recently published on several thousands of galaxies within several hundred million light years radius.3 The four authors of this article have creatively built their cosmic model around General Relativity (GR), with inspiration from electromagnetism (EM). They hypothesize that the immense Shapley Supercluster (with the mass of about 8,000 average galaxies) is gravitationally attracting us from several hundred million light years away in the direction of the Centaurus constellation. Furthermore, somewhat closer lies what is called the Great Attractor (with mass of about 1,000 average galaxies) from the direction of the Norma and Triangulum Australe constellations. The Shapley galactic net attractive force is significantly greater than that of the Great Attractor, and together they pull our Milky Way toward them – in addition to the “Hubble’s Law” Doppler movement outward as the visible universe expands exponentially and uniformly, apparently from “Dark Energy.”4 1 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-016-0036 2 http://www.nature.com/article-assets/npg/natastron/2017/s41550-016-0036/extref/ s41550-016-0036-s2.mp4 3 http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-6256/146/3/69/ meta;jsessionid=C2E343C6040E9038FA229EEA517C9893.c1.iopscience.cld.iop.org -
Victoria Centre
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA: VICTORIA CENTRE New Moon through the Trees, by Diane Bell The Littlest AGM After changing our society’s year end to December 31st, to be more in sync with RASC National and the rest of Western Civilization, the next step was having an annual general meeting, to fulfill our obligations to the BC Society’s Act. The February 13th meeting was chosen to do double duty as our monthly meeting and what President Reg Dunkley promised as a 5 minute AGM, to vote on the financials I prepared as the outgoing treasurer. SKYNEWS March 2019 ISSUE #406 Page 1 ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA: VICTORIA CENTRE The dining wasn’t what we’ve come to expect for our annual general meetings. In fact there was no food to be had at all, other than the usual snacks served in the astronomy teacher’s lounge for our after meeting social. Having just had our banquet in November, it was considered a bit gauche to have another one so soon, let alone the organizing required to make it happen on short notice. The weather was also unkind, as the meeting was scheduled at the end of a week of snow for the BC South Coast, something local denizens are generally less than prepared for. 19 RASC Victoria members were present and another 16 provided proxy votes so we could achieve quorum (there are currently 285 RASC Victoria Centre members). One of the proxy votes was made from as far away as Tasmania! The SkyNews Editor provided his proxy vote and watched the meeting via UTube, from his home, on the snowy plateau of North Saanich, where his summer tire equipped car remained parked for the week. -
The Distance to Ngc 4993 – the Host Galaxy of the Gravitational Wave Event Gw 170817
DRAFT VERSION OCTOBER 4, 2017 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX61 THE DISTANCE TO NGC 4993 – THE HOST GALAXY OF THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EVENT GW 170817 JENS HJORTH,1 ANDREW J. LEVAN,2 NIAL R. TANVIR,3 JOE D. LYMAN,2 RADOSŁAW WOJTAK,1 SOPHIE L. SCHRØDER,1 ILYA MANDEL,4 CHRISTA GALL,1 AND SOFIE H. BRUUN1 1Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark 2Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK 4Birmingham Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK ABSTRACT The historic detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger (GW 170817) and its electromagnetic coun- terpart led to the first accurate (sub-arcsecond) localization of a gravitational wave event. The transient was found to be ∼1000 from the nucleus of the S0 galaxy NGC 4993. We here report the luminosity distance to this galaxy using two independent meth- ods: (1) Based on our MUSE/VLT measurement of the heliocentric redshift (z = 0:009783 ± 0:000023) we infer the systemic -1 recession velocity of the NGC 4993 group of galaxies in the CMB frame to be vCMB = 3231 ± 53 km s . Using constrained cos- -1 mological simulations we estimate the line-of-sight peculiar velocity to be vpec = 307±230 km s , resulting in a cosmic velocity -1 of vcosmic = 2924 ± 236 km s (zcosmic = 0:00980 ± 0:00079) and a distance of Dz = 40:4 ± 3:4 Mpc assuming a local Hubble -1 -1 00 00 constant of H0 = 73:24 ± 1:74 km s Mpc .