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Thread: Astronomers get glimpse at the very beginning of time

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kacper View Post
    Theoretically.....if Stephen Hawking was right about the universe being more like a balloon with everything on its surface instead of everything being inside the balloon.
    that doesn't even make sense.......even if the universe was on the surface of the "balloon" what began at the center is headed outward and will never get back where it started........

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    Quote Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet View Post
    that doesn't even make sense.......even if the universe was on the surface of the "balloon" what began at the center is headed outward and will never get back where it started........
    If everything is on the surface, then nothing heads "out". It just moves along the surface

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    Quote Originally Posted by ThatOwlWoman View Post
    Teachers like that are precious as diamonds, eh?

    I never took physics but Mr. Owl has. He also explained gravity the same way. I think that was one of Stephen Hawking's greatest gifts -- that he could take the most esoteric and complex subjects in human thought and translate them into the-rest-of-us-speak.

    Now I want to go re-read A Brief History of Time.

    Good explanation of gravity lensing:

    https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/...tional-lensing
    Cheers,
    I need to read that book!

    Here is a book I have reserved at the library.

    "Astrophysics for people in a hurry"
    by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2017

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cypress View Post
    Cheers,
    I need to read that book!

    Here is a book I have reserved at the library.

    "Astrophysics for people in a hurry"
    by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2017
    Sweet! Hadn't heard of that one, thanks for the idea.

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    Quote Originally Posted by guno View Post
    Scientists have peered at the very beginning of the universe, sampling light that was emitted at the dawn of time.

    And the breakthrough is the consequence of a happy accident: a galaxy acted as a huge space telescope, bending light so that we could see deep into space and time.

    The light that reached Earth was among the first to ever twinkle on after the Big Bang.


    Astronomers now hope they are able to make yet more similar discoveries, allowing them to watch as the universe began.


    The observations allowed scientists to pick up part of an extremely distant quasar, sending out a beam of light that is almost as old as the universe itself.




    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...-a8720016.html
    Thank you for this, Guno. Great stuff. We are moving along nicely toward greater and greater understanding of whatever exists.

    I do wish, however, that scientists were more careful with their wording.

    "The universe" as used in your first sentence (and as most scientists seem to use it) MAY NOT BE all that exists.

    Because of this (careless) wording on the part of scientists, we tend to suppose that "the universe" means "all that exists."

    There may be a day where we actually discover that more exists than "the universe." That day may never come for humans. But it is something that matters...and something we ought to acknowledge.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ThatOwlWoman View Post
    Sweet! Hadn't heard of that one, thanks for the idea.
    And thanks for reminding me about Hawking's book, which surprisingly I have not read yet.

    Circling back to good teachers:
    Based on my limited experience with scientists, educators, academia, and bureaucracies, I think some significant part of the problem of crappy teaching comes down to language and lexicon.

    People trained in science spend eight years in college learning a whole new language, jargon, and plethora of technical terms. And it seems to me they are loathe to give them up, and just explain things in simple, plain-language terms. I actually think some of these people think they won't sound as smart if they defer to simple, plain-language English lexicon, and they are somewhat addicted to specialized jargon. . Others probably are just clinging to the jargon out of habit, and not realizing that jargon is a piss poor way to teach and educate the layperson, or the average undergraduate.

    I am constantly telling technical people to use plain language, and you would be amazed at how little attention is paid by a lot of scientists to communicating in clear, concise, and lucid plain-English language.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kacper View Post
    If everything is on the surface, then nothing heads "out". It just moves along the surface
    so a straight line is not straight.......

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Soul View Post
    I thought this thread was going to be about the birth of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nomad View Post
    I'm reminded of droolng every time I see your screen name.
    Sorry, but I don't swing, and I don't swing your way.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Soul View Post
    Sorry, but I don't swing, and I don't swing your way.
    Yeah, I know.

    I'm a straight heterosexual, you're not.

    And unlike you, all the sex I've had, has been with other humans.

    Female humans to be exact.
    https://i.postimg.cc/PqVCnGks/gojoe1.jpg
    C'MON MAN!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cypress View Post
    And thanks for reminding me about Hawking's book, which surprisingly I have not read yet.

    Circling back to good teachers:
    Based on my limited experience with scientists, educators, academia, and bureaucracies, I think some significant part of the problem of crappy teaching comes down to language and lexicon.

    People trained in science spend eight years in college learning a whole new language, jargon, and plethora of technical terms. And it seems to me they are loathe to give them up, and just explain things in simple, plain-language terms. I actually think some of these people think they won't sound as smart if they defer to simple, plain-language English lexicon, and they are somewhat addicted to specialized jargon. . Others probably are just clinging to the jargon out of habit, and not realizing that jargon is a piss poor way to teach and educate the layperson, or the average undergraduate.

    I am constantly telling technical people to use plain language, and you would be amazed at how little attention is paid by a lot of scientists to communicating in clear, concise, and lucid plain-English language.
    I just ordered the Neil DeGrasse one you mentioned.

    Yeah, that jargon is a thing in just about every profession. Young doctors (and nurses too) often resort to that, I think to impress a patient with their education and knowledge. Kind of a way to gain cred when the person lacks experience!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack View Post
    I have this feeling that 'time' pulsates with the Big Bang and the Big Crunch.
    Sorry, but science says there will be no crunch. But then again, they also say 95% of the Universe's mass & energy is ... missing.
    "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
    — Joe Biden on Obama.

    Socialism is just the modern word for monarchy.

    D.C. has become a Guild System with an hierarchy and line of accession much like the Royal Court or priestly classes.

    Private citizens are perfectly able of doing a better job without "apprenticing".

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nomad View Post
    Yeah, I know.

    I'm a straight heterosexual, you're not.

    And unlike you, all the sex I've had, has been with other humans.

    Female humans to be exact.
    No need to lie about this. Being queer is normal moral natural healthy in your circles.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet View Post
    so a straight line is not straight.......
    Theoretically that would be correct as time/space is curved. Just something that I recall reading in Brief History of Time I think.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigdog View Post
    Sorry, but science says there will be no crunch. But then again, they also say 95% of the Universe's mass & energy is ... missing.
    Sorry Einstein, this is just a scientific theory based solely upon speculation and a gut feeling. So. BAM!

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