"Yet the big bang is not the only framework available for understanding the history of the universe. Plasma cosmology and the steady-state model both hypothesize an evolving universe without beginning or end. These and other alternative approaches can also explain the basic phenomena of the cosmos, including the abundances of light elements, the generation of large-scale structure, the cosmic background radiation, and how the redshift of far-away galaxies increases with distance. They have even predicted new phenomena that were subsequently observed, something the big bang has failed to do."
Challenge to the Big Bang from scientists...
PLASMA UNIVERSE PING!
It's All In The BelievingBritish astronomer A. Eddington... "believed" in Relativity and wished to make it more acceptable. Eclipse photos showing the shifting of star images by the gravitational influence of the eclipsed sun might do the job. On the day of the eclipse, Principe was bedevilled by clouds, and only 2 photographic plates were deemed marginally acceptable. At Sobral, 18 poor plates and 8 better plates were obtained. The problem was that the 18 poor plates yielded a deflection of starlight much smaller than predicted by Relativity, while the 8 better plates produced a much higher value. By adding the 2 plates from Principe to the mix, Eddington managed to come up with a number close to that required by the Theory of Relativity. It was not the clear-cut victory for Einstein that the textbooks proclaim... Eddington let ideology affect his conclusion. Even today, the results from the 1919 eclipse are still proclaimed to be proof of Relativity.
by William R. Corliss
Nov-Dec 1999Stealing Energy from a Black HoleXMM-Newton observed the x-ray spectrum of iron gas whirling in the black hole's accretion disk. The researchers reveal that the energy output was too great to simply be the result of matter being crushed and falling into the black hole. They add that the observed light was stretched to extreme lengths by gravity. This observation indicates that the emitting gas must be exceptionally close to the black hole, where gravity's influence is greatest. According to theory, the supermassive black hole must be spinning to let material get that close before being swallowed.
by Vanessa ThomasUnveiling the Flat UniverseIn Einstein's general theory of relativity, space curves around massive objects. In a closed universe, there is enough mass and energy so that space as a whole curves until parallel lines will eventually meet. An open universe, which has much less mass and energy, curves in the opposite direction, and parallel lines seem to diverge. Hot and cold spots about 1° across mean that the microwaves in the background radiation would remain parallel almost all the way across the universe. There's just enough mass and energy to keep the universe flat. With flat, Euclidean geometry, parallel lines don't curve in either direction.
by Diana SteeleAt the Speed of LightWebb used data collected by the world's most powerful telescope -- the Keck, perched on the summit of Mauna Kea, 13,796 feet up on the Big Island of Hawaii. He looked at light from 68 quasars -- extremely bright young galaxies -- as much as 12 billion light-years from Earth. During the light's long journey to Earth, it passed through clouds of intergalactic gas. In doing so, the light's spectra changed, depending on the chemical elements in the clouds.
by Tim Folger
DISCOVER Vol. 24 No. 4 (April 2003)
The details of such spectral shifts are expressed mathematically by the so-called fine-structure constant, which consists of four components, including the speed of light. The constant should remain the same no matter where or when it's measured -- that's why it's called a constant. But Webb found otherwise. In the intergalactic clouds, the "constant" was smaller than the expected value by one part in 100,000. This means one or more elements of the fine-structure constant -- possibly the speed of light -- must have varied by the same amount. If light did travel that much faster 12 billion years ago, when it left the remotest quasars Webb studied, it would be consistent with Magueijo's theory. The difference may seem tiny, but it floored physicists around the world, including its discoverer. "I was absolutely stunned, yeah," Webb says. "I certainly didn't expect it."
...According to Magueijo's calculations, the speed of light near a cosmic string would increase dramatically: A spaceship traveling on one of these fast tracks could go well above the standard speed of light—186,282 miles per second—while still traveling at a fraction of the accelerated light-speed limit around the cosmic string. The laws of special relativity would still hold—time would slow down for the travelers. But because they would be traveling at a fraction of the cosmic string's light-speed limit, the effect would be minimized; astronauts could travel to the stars and return to Earth to find that months, not centuries, had passed.
Uh oh.