Hubble's 'zoom lens' probes deeply (First use of a unique magnification technique!)

BBC News ^ | Friday, 10 January, 2003, 22:09 GMT | By Dr David Whitehouse

[TShaunK]

Looks like the love child of Alfred E. Newman!

[Ann Archy]

Oh my gosh!!! What a wonderful ancestor you have....his telescope is the eye to the universe.

[friendly]

Yes, Hubble was one of the great unappreciated geniuses of the 20th Century.

[litehaus]

"I mean, how far out would we have to look to see all the way back....."

Not far....they were just looking in front and didn't see what is coming from behind..LOOK OUT! ...It's the KLINTOONS! LOL.........;>)

[friendly]

lol

[friendly]

How far out would we have to look to see all the way back to the beginning when all matter was condensed into a single entity?

Answer: You cannot because the universe was pitch black for the first billion years after the so-called Big Bang. Light did not emerge from the primal hydrogen gloom until 12 billion years ago by our reckoning.

You may notice I use the term so-called Big Bang. It isn't that I deny the evidence for this, I just have a radically different interpretation of the facts.

[friendly]

How far out would we have to look to see all the way back to the beginning when all matter was condensed into a single entity?

Answer: You cannot because the universe was pitch black for the first billion years after the so-called Big Bang. Light did not emerge from the primal hydrogen gloom until 12 billion years ago by our reckoning.

You may notice I use the term so-called Big Bang. It isn't that I deny the evidence for this, I just have a radically different interpretation of the facts.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

The difficulty you are having is somewhat caused by viewing the Big Bang as an explosion in space, as opposed to the explosion of space.

The best way to look at it is in a two dimensional context. Imagine you were a 2D being on the surface of a balloon. The "time" of the Big Bang would be the time when the balloon started to be "blown up." Notice that actual space would be expanding, not the position of the objects within space. You would see the neighboring galaxy to you move away, not because it was somehow pushed away from you, but because the space in between you was expanding.

BTW, you can already see the "light" from the Big Bang. It's just that, with the lengthening of the wavelenghts from so much expansion, you need a radio to "see" it. And, because the Big Bang happened at every point in the universe at the same time, the "light" (or noise, if you prefer) from the Big Bang is coming from every direction at equal strength.

Don't think of the Big Bang (which I have my own personal issues with, BTW) as an event where the things in space get moved, but as an event where space itself is moving/expanding...

[friendly]

A Big Bang Bump.

[RadioAstronomer]

Hi! Thanks for the ping :-)

[friendly]

bttt

[redheadtoo]

...Steve Smith who fixed the Hubble..

That reminds me of a cartoon I saw when the Hubble was still unfixed. The caption read, "The Hubble Telescope designer." The picture was of Mr. Magoo.

I'm glad to see the Hubble performing as it should.

[PJ-Comix]

I am a distant relative of Edwin Hubble.

How many light years distant?

[friendly]

bttt

[DWar]

Quite distant and by marriage. My aunt married his brother, Johnny. I never met him, he died in 1953, I think. But my memories of his brother from about 1957-58 are quite strong. Certainly no claim to fame, but to me at least, an interesting link to a part of scientific history.

[Gary Boldwater]

I have revised that theory and all other theories into the Boldwater Unified Theory (BUT). There is virtual matter called "pink matter" that we can't see, measure or even smell. The "pink matter" can convert to virtual energy at any time ("pink energy"). "Pink Matter" is what makes all things happen, it is the universal causative agent AND the universal fudge factor. If the universe doesn't add up, throw in some "pink matter". Energy that is not conserved between reference frames became "pink matter". Lose a sock in the laundry? It became "pink matter". 2 + 2 = 5? "Pink matter" threw in the extra 1. "Pink matter" has been known throughout history, albiet in other forms. The Greeks and Romans called them Gods, savages beat their drums to make the sun rise without knowing that "pink matter" flew off the drumhead and did so! Since "pink matter" is bound by no rules or laws (except to explain what logic and experience fail to do) it can travel backwards or forwards in time. In can be no place and everyplace at once. It is also linked to all other "pink matter" or "pink energy" by instantaneous communication in our current dimension and in the "pink dimensions".
This theory is irrefutable because "pink matter" cannot be observed and also distorts the minds of non-believers.

[aruanan]

This theory is irrefutable because "pink matter" cannot be observed and also distorts the minds of non-believers.

Instead of submitting to Occam's Razor, they use pinking shears to cut reality to fit.

[HangFire]

Post #10

Carrot Top is getting uglier isn't he?

[Some hope remaining.]

I think this picture is faked, kind of like some of those UFO videos. This could be a bunch of fireflies and moths flying around my porch light at night. ;^)

[Alpha One]

In the period immediately following the big bang, did most of the matter in the universe travel at faster than the speed of light for some period of time, then slow to the current rate of expansion? This would seem to be the only way that would allow matter to be so scattered and distant, and yet close to the time that the universe was supposedly created.

Contrary to popular belief, the Big Bang did not involve a sudden outburst of stars from a central point, rather the Big Bang involved the sudden appearance of infinite space and all contained within it. The expansion of the Universe does not involve a central point that everything is moving away from, but instead it is the uniform expansion of the Universe in all directions.

Foundations of Big Bang Cosmology

If we lense out past these 13 Billion year old galaxys and see maybe 15 or 20 Billion years back, do we then see a tiny speck that contained all matter before the big bang? I mean, how far out would we have to look to see all the way back to the beginning when all matter was condensed into a single entity?

As the estimated age of the Universe is between 12 and 14 billion years, it appears that at 13 billion years away, we should be seeing what would be the horizon of our Universe.

If the Big Bang theory holds true, there should be nothing visible beyond that horizon.

How Old is the Universe?