| FORUMS > The Sin Bin > The Astronomy Thread |
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Amazing stuff.
It will really open a new window into what astronomers and physicists can do, measure, and test in the universe. Historic.
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To be honest it’s all above my head.
They’ve picked up this gravitational wave from 1.3 billion light years away. If the Universe is 13.7 billion years old how will they pick up the wave from the Big Bang, won’t it have gone past already?
Or is the centre of the Big Bang shedloads further away than this merged black hole?
Thanks, in advance.
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It's misleading to think of the Big Bang as something that happened far away and the gravitational waves at some later point reach us. All our universe was within the Big Bang singularity and that singularity expanded and continues to expand.
If you think of the expanding universe as the surface of an expanding balloon - which it isn't, but it's not a bad analogy - you can see that radiation doesn't go from the centre "out" and eventually hit a boundary, it travels indefinitely, because the universe is infinite. Think of a wave going round and round a balloon.
We can only see so far back in time using other forms of radiation and our view is obstructed or blocked by intervening matter, but gravitational waves are not affected by matter - they pass straight "through", if you like) so in theory if you can devise good enough detectors, you can see all the way back to the Big Bang itself.
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| Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "It's misleading to think of the Big Bang as something that happened far away and the gravitational waves at some later point reach us. All our universe was within the Big Bang singularity and that singularity expanded and continues to expand.
If you think of the expanding universe as the surface of an expanding balloon - which it isn't, but it's not a bad analogy - you can see that radiation doesn't go from the centre "out" and eventually hit a boundary, it travels indefinitely, because the universe is infinite. Think of a wave going round and round a balloon.
We can only see so far back in time using other forms of radiation and our view is obstructed or blocked by intervening matter, but gravitational waves are not affected by matter - they pass straight "through", if you like) so in theory if you can devise good enough detectors, you can see all the way back to the Big Bang itself.'"
Thanks for that F.A, I’ll try & divulge it when I’m more lucid.
I’m still struggling with all the Quantum Physics stuff I’ve watched lately, the weirdest one being a parallel universe theory & you're just a figment of my imagination or I am yours. |
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Figment of imagination is maybe a bit too far but it's close. The space you occupy is 99.99999whatever% empty. You're basically a loosely assembled energy field which improbably somehow works. Each atom if enlarged would consist very roughly of a tennis ball sized nucleus, and then the nearest orbiting electron would be maybe speck of dust size, 1km away. Sure, there may be a number of other electrons but basically that's it. And no connections between any of these distant specks. And the nucleus, far from being solid, is really an assembly of various exotic particles whizzing around.
How this astonishingly disorganized assemblage of basically empty space with occasional tiny energy quanta operates as a functioning human (or a daffodil, or a rock) is hard to get your head around but certainly nothing is remotely what it seems. It's why astronomy and philosophy have always been very good partners.
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I have always thought of the universe as a giant's fart - a big bang, then expansion as the gas rushes and then diffuses away. I suppose some bright spark could disprove (without igniting!) my idea?
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ESA's LISA Pathfinder is another part of the search for gravitational waves, and this has now passed a milestone, which is just an amazing feat of technology.
[ (c) [sizeCopyright ESA/ATG medialab[/size ]
Basically, the plan was, to have two detectors, in perfect and permanent freefall through space, so effectively completely "weightless", taking the measurements. T
How they did it (very briefly) was
1. Position the satellite at a point approx 1.5m km towards the Sun, where the gravity from Earth and Sun balance out (orbiting the first Sun–Earth ‘Lagrangian point’, L1.)
2. Release the two detectors so that they float freely within their respective containers
3. Using an incredibly sensitive steering mechanism, "fly" the spacecraft around the detectors! - no force will ever be applied to the free-floating detectors again, save the gravity that keeps them in orbit, and the spacecraft will when necessary make minute adjustments to its position, to keep the freefalling detectors in the centre of their housings.
So, the theory goes, the only thing that can cause a disturbance of the detectors would be a passing gravitational wave.
A fuller explanation of this amazing experimental mission here:
m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_S ... Pathfinder |
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ESA's LISA Pathfinder is another part of the search for gravitational waves, and this has now passed a milestone, which is just an amazing feat of technology.
[ (c) [sizeCopyright ESA/ATG medialab[/size ]
Basically, the plan was, to have two detectors, in perfect and permanent freefall through space, so effectively completely "weightless", taking the measurements. T
How they did it (very briefly) was
1. Position the satellite at a point approx 1.5m km towards the Sun, where the gravity from Earth and Sun balance out (orbiting the first Sun–Earth ‘Lagrangian point’, L1.)
2. Release the two detectors so that they float freely within their respective containers
3. Using an incredibly sensitive steering mechanism, "fly" the spacecraft around the detectors! - no force will ever be applied to the free-floating detectors again, save the gravity that keeps them in orbit, and the spacecraft will when necessary make minute adjustments to its position, to keep the freefalling detectors in the centre of their housings.
So, the theory goes, the only thing that can cause a disturbance of the detectors would be a passing gravitational wave.
A fuller explanation of this amazing experimental mission here:
m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_S ... Pathfinder | |
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That's an incredible feat of engineering and science. Hopefully, they'll get some results back in the future.
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Awesome new images of the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way, from the Southern hemisphere
Quote: "A spectacular new image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimetre wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys.
rlhttps://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1606/rl
'"
To the right of the main page are links to various sizes of image, zoomable etc.
A number of images released including this superb mp4 in ultra HD
cdn2.eso.org/videos/ultra_hd/eso1606a.mp4 |
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Awesome new images of the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way, from the Southern hemisphere
Quote: "A spectacular new image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimetre wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys.
rlhttps://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1606/rl
'"
To the right of the main page are links to various sizes of image, zoomable etc.
A number of images released including this superb mp4 in ultra HD
cdn2.eso.org/videos/ultra_hd/eso1606a.mp4 | |
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Some nice pics of the recent spectacular Northern Lights display. rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35741589rl
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| Europe's newest climate satellite Sentinal-3A is sending back some stunning images of our planet. Check these out...
rlClick merl
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Those images are astonishingly detailed, amazing stuff
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Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "Pluto's icy plains - truly astonishing detail, the resolution is around 80 metres per pixel
This is a screengrab of a partial image, but for the best view go to the page and click on the full length image and scroll. Awesome.
Some interesting theories on a "mobile mantle" on Pluto https://www.ras.org.uk/education-and-ca ... ile-mantle |
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Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "Pluto's icy plains - truly astonishing detail, the resolution is around 80 metres per pixel
This is a screengrab of a partial image, but for the best view go to the page and click on the full length image and scroll. Awesome.
Some interesting theories on a "mobile mantle" on Pluto https://www.ras.org.uk/education-and-ca ... ile-mantle | |
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An awesome new view of the shadow of the Moon crossing the face of the Earth during the 9th March solar eclipse - as seen from the DSCVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory), from a distance of 1 million miles.
www.space.com/32224-moon-shadow- ... video.html |
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An awesome new view of the shadow of the Moon crossing the face of the Earth during the 9th March solar eclipse - as seen from the DSCVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory), from a distance of 1 million miles.
www.space.com/32224-moon-shadow- ... video.html | |
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Congrats to Toynbee School in Chandler’s Ford whose magnificent and intrepid teddy bear, Derek, has soared to 95,000 feet and in so doing, proved the shape of the globe! ![]()
Sadly, at the moment poor Derek is missing, probably abducted by aliens, but his achievement will forever make him a giant among bears. The amazing and heart-wrenching video of his epic and fearless journey here:
https://youtu.be/ZokqwxBzDbI |
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Congrats to Toynbee School in Chandler’s Ford whose magnificent and intrepid teddy bear, Derek, has soared to 95,000 feet and in so doing, proved the shape of the globe! ![]()
Sadly, at the moment poor Derek is missing, probably abducted by aliens, but his achievement will forever make him a giant among bears. The amazing and heart-wrenching video of his epic and fearless journey here:
https://youtu.be/ZokqwxBzDbI | |
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