Posted on 07/26/2023 10:33:46 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Dismantling the belief in a static universe, Edwin Hubble's revolutionary observations in the 1920s laid the groundwork for our understanding of a continually expanding cosmos. However, we must seek to reconcile this theory with observations that are consistent with a non-expanding universe, writes Tim Anderson.
You have been taught that the universe began with a Big Bang, a hot, dense period about 13.8 billion years ago. And the reason we believe this to be true is because the universe is expanding and, therefore, was smaller in the past. The Cosmic Microwave Background is the smoking gun for the Big Bang, the result of a reionization of matter that made the universe transparent about 300–400,000 years after the Big Bang.
How did we go from Einstein modifying his equations to keep the universe static and eternal, which he called the biggest blunder of his life, to every scientist believing that the universe had a beginning in 10 years? It all started with astronomer Edwin Hubble using the most powerful telescope at the time on Mount Wilson in California. At the time, in the 1920s, scientists believed that the Milky Way galaxy was the totality of the universe. Objects in the night sky like Andromeda that we now know are galaxies were called “nebulae”.
Looking at these objects, however, Hubble knew how bright particular stars called Cepheid variables were supposed to be. Knowing how bright they were supposed to be meant that he could tell how far away they were. He found to his surprise that Andromeda and Triangulum had Cepheid variables that were too far away to be inside the Milky Way. They weren’t nebulae. They were galaxies.
Hubble’s discoveries, made in 1924, merited a short column on page 6 of the New York Times. In that article, “Dr. Hubbell” was said to have shown that nebulae are in fact “island universes”. The concept was so new that they weren’t even recognized as galaxies. Hubble was able to estimate distances for his newly discovered galaxies. His estimates were off by about a factor of 7 but proportionally correct. Other scientists such as Vesto M. Slipher, had been busy, since 1912, measuring how fast the galaxies he identified were moving towards or away from us by measuring their redshift.
The way you measure redshift uses a concept from atomic theory called spectroscopy. Basically, stars contain elements that absorb light at specific wavelengths. These are patterns of missing wavelengths in the spectrum of the light called absorption spectra. These patterns show up because the atoms contain electrons that absorb photons with particular frequencies. When the photon strikes the atom, the electron absorbs it and moves to a higher orbital, but only if it has the exact frequency needed for that electron. Otherwise, no absorption happens. This property can be used to determine what things are made of by exposing them to light and measuring their emissions. It can also be used to make lasers.
Spectrum of the star Altair from NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI).
In astronomy, it is how we determine how fast objects are moving towards or away from us because of something called the Doppler effect. If something is moving away from us, the wavelengths of light coming from that object will be stretched out which makes them longer and lower frequency. This shifts the absorption spectrum to the right in the above picture and so is called redshift since the right side is red. If the object is moving towards us, then it will be shifted to the blue side and so is called blueshift. The same thing happens with sound which is why a siren has a higher pitch as an ambulance moves towards you and a lower pitch when it moves away from you.
Since we know what the frequencies in the absorption spectrum are supposed to be for particular elements and we can, by the pattern and what we know about stars, identify what those elements should be. We can determine how redshifted stars and galaxies are. When Hubble looked at all these new galaxies he had identified, he made a correlation between their velocity based on redshift and their distance based on the Cepheid variables. It turns out that these were linearly correlated. In other words, the further away a galaxy was, the faster it moved away from us. You can make a graph with speed on the vertical axis in km/s and distance on the horizontal axis in Megaparsecs (about 3.26 million lightyears) and you will find that it makes a line.
Hubble identified the slope of this line as a universal constant which we now know as the Hubble constant. His value was about 500 km/s/Megaparsec. If you correct for his factor of 7 error in distance, this falls within the currently accepted value of 68–74 km/s/Megaparsec. Alexander Friedmann in 1922 and Fr. George Lemaître independently in 1927 had used Einstein’s field equation to predict that the universe should be expanding (or shrinking). Combining their results with Hubble’s observations and the successful demonstration of the correctness of Einstein’s equations within the Solar System, scientists concluded that the universe was expanding.
Not everyone was happy about this conclusion. That included Hubble himself. Hubble disagreed with the interpretation of his data believing that redshifts might not be related to velocity at all and he criticised the popularity of the expanding universe theory, saying in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1937:
The interpretation of red shifts by the theory of the expanding universes is so plausible and so widely current that, in making a delicate test of the theory, it is desirable to push uncertainties in the favourable direction before admitting a discordance.
He had good reason to believe in a discordance because, based on his data, the universe would have been younger than the Earth, too small and dense by far, with a “closed” geometry implying it should fall back in on itself. This turned out to be wrong because Hubble had vastly underestimated the distances to the galaxies he had observed. The universe was actually far older and less dense than he believed.
....only to explode again sending all elements on their merry way to continue the cycle.
And there is an astonishing amount we do not know about Hubble’s work. After he died, his wife went through his massive notes and writings, and burned the ones she thought were not appropriate or might embarrass him. God only knows what work she destroyed.
You win the day. It’s not a flat earth... it’s a flat universe. LOL
“Any group that relies on “matter” that cannot be detected except by it’s gravitational effect to make it’s theories work is not a group that can be taken seriously.”
I seem to remember something about a king, and his invisible clothing.
But, if there is light amplitude and frequency loss with distance then standard star brightness and doppler shift could cause errors.
If the universe is everything (every single thing), then what is it expanding into? Maybe it is just one, giant Möbius loop? No beginning, no end, no boundaries.
~ Mark Twain
I knew it!
Just about every possible alternative has already been ruled out. The atheist/materialists were desperate to find an alternative but they have consistently been stymied by experimental results, or mathematical and metaphysical impossibilities that arise from other theories.
“Gravity stretches and compresses space/time”
No, matter distorts spacetime (really I think it’s just the time component that is distorted, because distorting space is nonsensical), and that distortion creates the effect we call “gravity”.
Aren’t dark matter and dark energy completely theoretical to fit equations?
I think we’re in The Matrix…
Dark energy is theoretical to fit the rotational speed of galaxies, the gravitational bending of light around galaxies and galaxy clusters and the estimated expansion rate of the universe. I don't know if it is something real or something we don't understand yet.
They’re likely wrong about everything.
They get a little knowledge, make up a theory to explain it, and don’t even have a clue what reality is. It’s all posturing.
If you don’t get the Nobel Prize I’m sure the media is willing to offer you a job.
Good luck
So what about (dark matter)? This was the fudge factor that they added in to maintain their model? Is it gone now too?
Clamosaurs and oysterettes collided in the dense gas.
There is no replacement for dark matter to make the models work. There has to be a link between dark energy and unicorn energy in the greenie “science”.
The link is the difference in old fashion real science and the tingle leg agenda driven left rotation fake news science that gets out today thanks to a reward punishment system installed and fostered by the wrong think (do gooder), for themselves, liberals who attempt take over of our world.
Evidence the universe might not be expanding - Could we be wrong about everything?
—
the first supposition might be true or might not, the second supposition is definitely true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.