I'm no physics major, but unless I'm mistaken there is a defined, singular center of the universe--that is, where the big bang occurred. The space encompassing the universe may be infinite for all we know, but the mass that inhabits that space has a traceable origin, and it's certainly not here.
Actually, there is no true center, as I understand it. All points are moving away from one another, and all points are equally far from the "edges." I do not pretend to wrap my head around this, in a visualization sense, but the universe, can be considered a 3D version of the surface of a balloon. If you take the 2D surface of an expanding balloon, what point on the balloon do you mark to note the "center" of the balloon's surface? All points are equivalent in that sense. I'm not as astrophysicist. I'm a condensed matter person, so [edit: whoops, forgot about this when phonecalls came in here] it's not my area. I've seen a lot of talks on this though. Swoly, back at you, but thanks for alerting me to the lame unfinished sentence.
Here is some NASA stuff in PhotoSynth: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/NASA/CollectionHome.htm Finish your post, man. I was so intrigued. I freakin' hate it when So
I'm not trying to criticize anybody's views here, because I know just as little about the matter as anyone else, but why should it be such a given that there is other intelligent life?? Why is it crazy if I believed that we are the only form of intelligent life, when I have never seen proof to the contrary? I realize that the universe is infinitely big (or so I've heard), but why does that automatically mean that there is another planet out there that is as perfectly equipped for holding human life as we are?? Let's say I was a firm believer in the Bible... what would make me think that there is definitely other intelligent life out there?
brooks, I don't think you're crazy. I truly believe we don't know. My personal belief is that there are probably lots of examples of life out there; who knows if its anything we would consider intelligent.
Bingo! Bob got it exactly right! (Must have taken the same astronomy course I took ) Since the entire universe originated from a single point, and from that point, every point in the universe is moving away from every other point in a constantly expanding cosmos, then by definition, every point is the center. Which is nice, because, knowing that, you can now say 'Why, yes, I *am* the center of the universe!'
So this morning I let my dog out about 6:20 and saw two bright stationary lights in the southeast sky. Looked like stars...but they were SIGNIFICANTLY brighter than anything else in the sky. Anyone know what I was seeing? (ima_drummer, i'll save you the time..."that's no moon." )
I already posted this but its so ****ing cool I will post it again. The view of our galaxy from Earth: This 360-degree panoramic view of the Milky Way has been assembled from sixteen 28 mm wide-angle photographs. The individual images were transformed to a cartesian frame based on galactic coordinates prior to assembly, thus eliminating the distortions introduced by the wide-angle lens. For a detailed description of the technique, click here. July 1997 - White Mountain Research Station, California March 1998 - Cederberg Observatory, South Africa September 1998 - Grandview Campground, White Mountain Range, California
We've investigated what...one decillionth of the universe? I don't know, it's just a guess but you get my drift. Does that guarantee there other intelligent life out there? Well you can't tell me for certain that there isn't and I can't tell you for certain that there is. But if we're taking bets, it's my personally opinion that I'd be an idiot not to put my money on "yes". And you mentioned "another planet perfectly equipped for holding human life", but part of the likelihood of other intelligent life is that it doesn't have to be human, or reside in a location that would be necessary for humans. *SPOILER TAGS ON THESE PICTURES PLEASE!
This was first stated by Hubble in 1929, and generally thought to be true until fairly recently. It has nothing to do with how far you can see. I has to do with the fact that most other galaxies is accelerating away from us at the same approximate rate. If we were on an edge, we would see vast differences in relative accelerations away from us. What you hear most often now is that the universe has no center, which is unfathomable to me, if you believe in a moment of creation (i.e. Big Bang).
