Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with galaxy

Was the entire universe created by the Big Bang, or is the space/time generated by the Big Bang part of a larger universe?

Lownotes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:55:20 -0800

Was the entire universe created by the Big Bang, or is the space/time generated by the Big Bang part of a larger universe? I was astounded recently to discover that the known universe has been measured from end to end, and it is 165 billion light years wide.

So, if you look at it that way, all of space/time is now a big egg-like ovoid of matter and energy.

If all the matter and energy generated by the Big Bang is now a gigantic ovoid:

1. Where is the Milky Way located in that ovoid?

2. If we are closer to one end than the other, do the photos we have of the most distant reaches of the known universe depict the far end or the near end?

3. Is this giant egg the entire universe, or is there space/time beyond the ovoid in which other Big Bangs could have occurred.

4. If there are other ovoids, will we ever be able to detect them?

Motion Sickness

zylocomotion — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:22:16 -0800

How many directions am I moving in while I'm just sitting here? Any idea of how fast? I'm not really looking for precision, or discussions about relativity, but rather generalities.

I'm guessing that continental drift and the effects of precession would be negligibly slow.

But, best as I can figure out:
Due to rotation, I'm moving eastwards at roughly 1,600 km/h, around the center of the earth.

Then the earth itself is moving about 108,000 km/hr counterclockwise around the sun.

Then the solar system is moving close to 792,000 km/hr around the galactic center.

And the galaxy itself is moving towards the Great Attractor at about 2,160,000 km/hr.

What have I missed? Where the hell is the Great Attractor moving? Isn't the galaxy also moving towards another galaxy in the local cluster, while we both head towards the Great Attractor?

I'm sick at home with the flu and I can't get these questions out of my head. Maybe I shouldn't drink so much TheraFlu. If you can make a FPP out of any of this, then...uh...godspeed. (How fast is that supposed to be? In what direct--oh nevermind)

MovieFilter: Alien ship abducts kid, gives him galaxy map?

theiconoclast31 — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:52:00 -0800

1980s-90s movie: An alien spacecraft had to upload the galaxy's map into the 90% of a kid's brain that was unused. There was an alien ship, and it was silver. It spoke to the child, I think the ship may have abducted him. The ship had "a stealth mode thing going on."

What is the title of this movie?

Factoring 'Time' into Astronomic Observations

0bvious — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 23:17:01 -0800

AskMeFi Physics folk: How do astronomers account for the temporal distinctiveness of their galactic subjects in their calculations? I understand that observations of the red shift of quasars delinates a speed increase in the expansion of the universe - yet my brain explodes when I try to understand how the enormous expanse of time is factored into these models. The hardest concepts for me to conceive are ones that factor the enormous AGE of the universe into their workings. I understand that by observing quasar red shift and comparing it to the shift of 'nearby' galaxies astronomers have determined that universe expansion is actually increasing. Surely though the fact that these quasar entities exist 'back in time' alters the nature of the data streaming from them? The photons of light astronomers gather in their observations have not just travelled great distances of space, but also great expanses of time, yet when the light was first emitted from these 'distant' objects their distinction in space was not as great as it is now (i.e. when the universe was smaller) a weird conflict indeed... This is where I reach the event horizon of my understanding.

Why doesn't the time aspect completely alter the nature of evidence gathered? Working with data that comes from billions of years hence must make calculations incredibly obscure.

In what ways is this temporality a help and a hinderance? How are the factors of time, space and motion / change plotted to form the model?