Starship Asterisk*

This site is very good:
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html

And this recent article is also very good (atleast entertaining):
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-SNAP-dark-energy.html

so far all is described since t=0. At t=0 and before, all matter that permeates the universe we know today was compressed into a single point ( nothingness ??). Eventually I am going to ask about the current view that the Universe is still accellerating into the nothingness. I have and read the Hawkin's book , which is the thought engine that drives my questions. many greeting to you all
W

... or possibly where t=0 in a 11D universe, if ya into superstring theory - which incidently - I'm not....!!!

...so the center of the big bang is somewhere near t=0 in 4D world. other three coordinates are really mystic.

The easiest(!) analogy is to think of a 2D organism living on the earth.

If it is 2 dimensional, it only knows about the surface of the earth. If this 2 dimensional being went all profound one day and asked itself 'Where's the centre of the earth?', he would certainly struggle to find an answer.

We 3D indivuals are aware of the core of the earth, but the 2D being isn't - it's outside his range of compreshension. He could however discover that his 2D world is 'curved' by drawing triangles and noticing the sides curve for example, but he wouldn't be aware of 'what' it's curving into.

It's a strange place this home of ours....

[quote="Recycled Electrons"]There is no Big Bang National Park.[/quote]

There's no park...but there's always the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

:P


ta152h0, for one thing, you can't think about the expansion of the universe in terms of a bunch of "stuff" flying out of a central point like a firecracker exploding. For one thing there was no "stuff" at first; [i]space itself[/i] was expanding out.

I am no expert and I am sure there are folks on these boards that can describe this better than I can. The easiest way I can explain it is this: Imagine the universe as an expanding bubble. The three dimensions we are familiar with are wrapped up in the outer layer of this bubble. Time, the fourth dimension, is the only dimension that extends from the center of the bubble. That's why there is no "physical" center that you can find or go to. You can only move in the three dimensions on the outer surface of the universe; you can't "go" to a past time.

I have seen some really cool diagrams describing this; I googled a bit but could not locate one. If you want a deeper understanding of the Big Bang I would suggest hitting the books, specifically Stephen Hawking's [i][u]A Brief History of Time[/u][/i].

Good luck!

There is no Big Bang National Park.

Anyone know where in the sky, we know today, is the location of the original "big bang "? And when the " big bang " ocurred, all the material got expelled at once, like blowing up a balloon , and because of different velocities, we have a 3D universe ?