The
Paradigm
From the time Edwin Hubble realized the universe was
expanding; it was generally acknowledged that at one time all matter and energy
must have had a common point and time of origin; a primeval atom. How
everything went from crammed - the primeval atom - to expansive – our universe
- was popularly called (among journalists and the public at large) the Big
Bang. Refinements in the determination of the rate of the universe’s expansion;
Hubble Constant (now valued at approximately 68(km/s)/Mpc) and analysis of the
cosmic background radiation (recorded by the European Space Agency’s Planck
mission has) lead researchers to the conclusion that the “big bang” occurred 13.82
billion years ago. But in astronomy, by definition time and distance are
linked. A supernova observed 100 million light years from earth occurred 100
million years ago. If the Big Bang is determined to have happened 13.82 billion
years ago, then it is occurring 13.82 billion light years away.
Beyond
the Paradigm
 |
Figure 1 Cosmic microwave background recorded by the Planck mission.
|
Because, with slight variations, the cosmic
background radiation is uniform across the sky, the Big Bang appears to be in
all directions; giving the illusion of putting Earth at the center of the
universe – shades of Ptolemy’s geocentric model of the cosmos. In reality this
means, that from our position in the universe, the actual Big Bang is only one
point in the sky, 13.82 billion light years away, and the rest of the observed
cosmic background radiation is a relativistic mirage (often referred to as the cosmic
horizon) created by space expanding away from us faster than the speed of
light. Nothing can actually travel faster than the speed of light but relative
to us, space on the celestial sphere is moving away from us at some speed
between one and two times the speed of light, depending on how fast we are
actually moving compared to the speed of light and where on the celestial
sphere you are looking. The closer you are to the opposite point in the sky
from the Big Bang, the closer the universe is to expanding away from us at 2 C.
The light we see left that point in
space started toward us 13.82 billion years ago, which means that the minimum age of the universe is 13.82
billion years old – from our perspective – and there may be no reason for the
universe not to be 10100 times older than that.
 |
| Figure 2 Our visible universe shown within a possibly much larger universe which exists beyond the relativistic mirage which marks the visual horizon of our universe. |
If the universe is spherical, as it is from our interior
perspective, then the minimum radius of the universe is 13.82 billion light
years. If the rate of expansion continues to exceed the rate at which gravity
pulls matter together, then it will eventually fade into dead stars and black
holes. If at some point in space and time, expansion is less than the force of
gravity between distant super clusters, matter will pull together; creating hyper-black
holes. At the very center of our universe, they may coalesce to form, a
universal core; a hyper-black hole with more mass than is contained in the observable
cosmos. For an observer within the core’s vicinity (say for instance, 13.82
light years) the universe would still appear to expanding but, in the direction
of the core; where mass is slowing the speed of light, the flow of time, and is
actually contracting space relative to the observer; space’s expansion would be
dramatically slowed. The core, visible in the sky as an area of ultra red
shifted light, it would, paradoxically look like the Big Bang, but centered on
a point in the sky.
In summary:
·
The size and age of the universe depends
on where you are.
·
No matter where you are in the universe,
you appear to be at its center.
·
The minimum age, if the calculations
based on Hubble Constant and the background cosmic radiation are correct, is
13.82 billion years old.
·
There is no way, presently, to determine
the actual age and size of the universe.
·
There may be a galactic core composed of
a hyper-black hole.
Questions that need answers:
Could the anomalies in the cosmic microwave
background radiation provide clues to the actual size and age of the universe? For
example could the slightly cooler anomaly indicate the point in the sky
directly opposite from the location which marks the actual Big Bang?
Are there limits as to the size and age of the
universe?
How would a universe core affect the rate of
expansion in the surrounding space?
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