universe/space/creation

[Bazile]

Can one of you knowlegible people out there please help me with the following

I can grasp the fact that stars are such vast distances from the earth that it takes time for the light to reach us on the earth ( the light from our own star takes - i think something like 15 minutes to reach us - so that when we look at the sun what we are seeing is the way it was 15 minutes earlier )

What i am having difficulty grasping is that we are told that the hubble telescope can look back in time to very near to the creation of the universe .

is this because the light from the time of the creation has been travelling for billions of years and is only just reaching us - if this is correct does it then follow that the earth was formed billions of years after the big bang and at a distance countless billions miles from the location of the big bang ?

I hope someone can understand the question I am trying to ask

[Clanad]

You're nearly on the correct trail... the universe is estimated to be 14.5 billions of years old(Ga), while the Earth is around 4.5 Ga old. Additionally, thrown into the mix is that, within an unimaginably short period of time (known as Planck Time) after the onset of the event known as the Big Bang, space and all that is/was in it inflated to an equally unimaginable size... far exceeding the speed of light for a very short period of time. Thus, the material that later became stars was flung, so to speak these great distances. This is that which Hubble is now looking into back in time. This is, understand, a very simplified and unscientific explanation, but will have to suffice considering the space (pun only slightly intended) available for such an explanation in this forum...

[Llamatron]

When we look out into the depths of space we are looking back in time. So the actual shape of the universe could be far different to what we see.
The stars we see may no longer actually exist, distant civilisations could have flourished and died, galaxies melted away.

It boggles the mind.

[Bazile]

Thanks folks - it's a bit clearer to me now - ( although not totally ) .
However this is a subject that really facinates me ( i have got a few more questions - I hope you good people out there will bear with me and help me to get a better grasp of this subject

Continuing on this subject - we are also told that the universe is expanding . However as i understand it , isn't the universe supposed to be continous with no end /being everywhere and everything - if this is correct , how can it therefore be expanding ?

[almusic10]

so what you are saying is even if we do find life out there, it might all be gone. if you know what I mean.

[bernardo]

The universe expanding is like a balloon expanding. The universe is not like the balloon; the universe is like the *surface* of the balloon. If you zoom out into space and travel through the universe in a spaceship, you will never reach an edge, because there isn't one. An ant walking about on the surface of a balloon would never reach an edge or a barrier. In a similar way, the universe can have a finite size even though it has no edge or barrier. Therefore it can be getting bigger, like a balllon being blown up.

However, as far as we know, the universe will be able to carry on expanding for ever and ever - you don't have to worry about it popping suddenly like a balloon does.

[curlyfilm]

the universe may be expanding, but i prefer the "constant state theory" which is basically that the universe has always been here and always be there

[Bazile]

So if the universe can have a finite size - are there any theories as to what may be beyond it ?

Also if the universe has always been there - according to the ' constant state theory ' - what was created by the 'big bang' ?

[druiaghtagh]

Bazile You could go on forever with this question, such as what created the big bang. Another question that makes me ponder is what is the smallest thing beyond atoms and nuclei, science only knows so far at the moment, should not this go infinitely as even the smallest must be made of something