Could the Cosmic Microwave Background Look Different from Other Vantage Points?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores whether the cosmic microwave background (CMB) would appear different from various vantage points in the universe, such as from Pluto, nearby stars, or other galaxies. It also considers the potential evolution of the CMB over time.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that the CMB would look different from distant locations in the universe, requiring significant distance to observe noticeable differences.
  • One participant argues that locations like Pluto or nearby stars are too close to yield a detectable difference in the CMB's appearance.
  • Another participant posits that even from a vantage point 1 million light-years away, the CMB would still appear largely the same.
  • There is speculation about time evolution of the CMB, with one participant indicating that changes occur too slowly to be detected within a human lifetime.
  • One participant estimates that a vantage point approximately 10 million light-years away might be necessary to observe a noticeably different CMB skymap.
  • It is noted that as time progresses, the spherical shell of the observable universe expands, potentially leading to different observable matter and variations in the CMB over long timescales.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on how much the CMB would change from various vantage points, with no consensus on the exact distance required for a noticeable difference or the nature of its time evolution.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention the dependence on the scale of observable variations and the limitations of human perception regarding the time evolution of the CMB.

starkind
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I was looking at a map of the cosmic microwave background, and began wondering if the cmb would look the same from another vantage point, perhaps Pluto, or a nearby star. Or what about if it were seen from another galaxy? And, in a related question, does the cmb evolve with time?

I suppose no one knows. But has anyone done any speculation along these lines?

Thanks
 
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it looks different from different locations of the Universe, but it order to have a different view you need to fly far away... Pluto, any nearby star or even Andromeda Galaxy are too close. You need to cross a significant part of the viible universe to see the difference.

From the same location, the picture becomes redder and redder and the picture slowly changes too.
 
starkind said:
I was looking at a map of the cosmic microwave background, and began wondering if the cmb would look the same from another vantage point, perhaps Pluto, or a nearby star. Or what about if it were seen from another galaxy? And, in a related question, does the cmb evolve with time?

I suppose no one knows. But has anyone done any speculation along these lines?

Thanks

The change in perspective would be too slight to make a detectable difference.
Even if you could jump to a nearby galaxy say 1 million LY away, it would still look the same.

Also there is time evolution but it is too slow for us to detect on a human-lifetime scale.

I should give some explanation so that it won't just be a flat assertion on my part. I don't know how much explanation you want though. The basic thing about perspective is that when we look at CMB we are observing matter which is in a spherical shell around us with radius 46 billion LY.

The detectable variations in temp, the blotches, are over scales of 10 million to a billion LY.
My hunch is that we'd need to jump to a vantage point some 10 million LY from here in order to get a noticeably different CMB skymap. Someone else may perhaps be able to refine that rough estimate.

As time goes on the spherical shell gets larger and it has a different slice of matter on it. The radius of the surface-of-last-scattering increases faster than just ordinary Hubblerate expansion. So it encompasses a fresh slice of matter, and maybe after 10 million years that matter would be sufficiently different to have detectable different blotches. So there would be time evolution, but on too slow a scale for us as we currently think.
 
thanks, Marcus and Dmitry67.
 

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