Recent content by 81+

It seems to me that our galaxy, and our galactic cluster, has to either be expanding with the rest of the universe or it has to be contracting due to its own gravity. I would vote for our cluster to be expanding. All by itself, as I understand it, our galaxy remains constant in size due to its...

I guess this is what I had in mind. Thanks George. http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/physics_astronomy/report-25349.html Frank

A variation of one part in 100,000 is what we see now with our present equipment. My point is that the variation in the CMB could be much more than this, maybe tens times as much, because of photon scattering on the way here. How do we know that there have not been significant collisions of...

In a recent article in ScienceNews, Ron Cowen states: (quote) Hidden in the peaks and valleys imprinted on the cosmic microwave background — the radiation leftover from the Big Bang — is a wealth of information not only about the early universe but the distribution of matter throughout the...

Marcus, thanks. Very thoughtful, very helpful and very clear as always. I'll review the GRG18 material and keep and eye out for GRG19. Frank

Marcus, what are your thoughts on how GR is ever going to be replaced if people with alternative views have a problem getting observation time on the big telescopes and the peer-reviewing people for the major journals pretty much insist that papers follow the "standard" GR line? Frank

I was reading http:/arxiv.org/abs/0810.0153 by Yu and Baryshev on expanding space and a question came to mind. The far galaxies are accelerating away from us. The amount of space that’s “created” each day, causing this acceleration, is much more than was needed the day before to cause the...

TMulHall, I'm with you, none of the replies (so far) came close to answering your question (one I have asked myself many times). I think Alfi's answer "how the dimple appears in the sheet is another matter" hits the nail on the head. The bottom line is, no one really knows what gravity is, or...

Space (outer space) itself is the absence of everything, or what's left after all the dust, various types of radiation, photons, neutrons, etc. etc. are removed. That is, space will still be there when all else is gone. So exactlyhow does a large mass, like our sun, warp something (space)...

mgb phys, thanks. I've got it now. If I live long enough, I'll understand everything. Frank

I understand that we can measure the rotational velocity of all of the mass at a given radius from the center of the galaxy. I do not understand what you mean (in your second sentence) by "How much mass there must be at each radius". Must be to accomplish what? How does increasing the...

The discs of all large galaxies show a "flattening" of their discs where the material at the outer edge of the discs rotate at the same rate as the material near the center of the galaxy. The explanation for this is that the galaxy must be embedded in a halo of invisible "dark" matter which, I...

Hi Wolram, It may be that we old curmudgeons (me and Burbidge) like to stick together, but I like Burbidge's paper. This is an extremely presumptive thing for an ignoramous like me to make, but I feel a lot more comfortable with the cyclic universe than the BB, and dark matter and dark...

ZikZak, I have never understood HOW spacetime "tells" particles how to move. Could you please enlighten me on this? Thanks. Frank