Infinity or beyond? The universe is around 13.5 billions of years old. It could continue for billions or trillions of years into a heat death ending. Cooling down and expanding forever. Or it might collapse in a backwards big band and a singularity.
I’m not a scientist but my interest was piqued by watching the BBC TV series “The Sky at Night”, I started watching in the 1960’s when Sir Patrick Moore presented it. I loved the old fashioned animations of how things worked. It was well before the time of CGI or computer animation.
I keep watching the 20 minute show monthly, over the years, finding out about comets, eclipses, meteor showers and meteorites. I still try and catch it all these years later. I’m interested in finding out about dark matter and quantum lensing. I hope the programme continues for years to come.
There’s a lot about astronomy I don’t know. There is a branch of science known as astrophysics for instance that is about light speed and gravity, red shifts, dark matter, black holes, dark energy, pulsars , neutron stars, the list is enormous.
I do try and understand some of this, there has been a TV programme on the BBC for decades called the Sky at Night. I’ve watched it since childhood. That sparked an interest and we did have a cheap telescope for a while. I’ve seen Jupiters moons through it and Saturns rings.
I’m amazed though at web pages about flat earth believers. Some of the things that they post are very odd and nonsensical. I don’t understand how incredibly silly some of them are! No offence meant but they worry me.
The industrial revolution in Britain and Europe began the transformation of alchemy to science. Inventions were happening and knowledge became more and more important.
As instruments improved things like telescopes and microscopes gave us a better understanding of the micro and macro aspects of life and the universe. We could see smaller and smaller living organisms, such as unicellular plants and animals, and then bacteria and finally viruses.
That understanding gave us vaccinations and antibiotics and began to initiate preventative medicine instead of simply trying to deal with the ravages of Plague and poxes.
There are many branches of science where humans have delved into how things work. They may have started as a philosophical perspective, such as Geography and Meteorology, but then deeper understanding of the underlying issues. Dinosaurs and fossils were discovered. The age of the the Earth extended from the supposed 6000 years since the biblical flood backwards over millions, then billions of years.
Meanwhile Issac Newton was discovering the ‘clockwork’ universe. Where stars moved in their courses. What then happened took decades and centuries, but scientists like Einstein changed the modern world.
I’ve been watching “The Ascent of Man”, by Jacob Bronowski, talking about all the changes and revolutionary things that happened in the last few centuries. It not only covers discoveries, but also how destructive factories could be to humanity. Thankfully not all manufacturers treated their workforces so badly.
I conclusion there is simply too much to discuss about sciences, it is impossible to understand all their aspects. But hopefully we can use science to improve our world, even if it’s only to work out methods that are less destructive to nature.
I think about spirituality sometimes and I question whether it is part of religion or not?
I don’t really know what I believe in. I was brought up as a Christian but I also think there are other aspects of spirit and life that come into your thoughts. I cannot be dogmatic or “born again”, I think you have to question things. Just because the bible says the world was made in seven days does not mean it was. That explanation seems like a simple way of understanding the Earth and the Universe. As we grow and learn we have to take on board science and all the knowledge that has come about over the centuries.
I could be an atheist, and not believe in a God or Gods, but in fact I’m more of an agnostic. I don’t know what I believe in, but if the universe is infinite and “God” is infinite how can I possibly know anyway?
I love John Lennons song “Imagine”, imagine there’s no heaven above us, and no hell below (I don’t think I’ve got the words right). I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I don’t know if there is anything after life, and if there is, what comes after that?
I enjoy Yoga, and we do breathing and meditation exercises. I think that helps me cope with my life. I think there are aspects of spirituality that I could question more, but I don’t know whether I should.
Light pollution is destroying our view of the night sky. In cities and towns only a few stars are visible at night, but if you get out away from them the sky can be full of thousands of faint stars including our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Our Galaxy is one of Billions or Trillions in the known Universe. It might look a bit like this if we were outside it, but as we are about a third of the way into a spiral arm of the Milky Way, it’s impossible to see that. Plus we are surrounded by dust lanes that obscure the view. Our galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its centre, and is made up not only of normal matter but dark matter and dark energy as well according to Astronomers and Astrophysical scientists.
The image is a digital drawing I did several years ago. You can only see something like this through a telescope though.
A long day, a funeral, a wake. Gentle celebration of a lost life. No awful grief, just a summing up of someone that touched many hearts. I am proud of her. I was moved and surprised by her life.
Seeing myself on the photos in tribute to her was a shock, I hadn’t been told they would be there. That touched me deeply. To know that half of me has now been seperated. I touched the coffin and said goodbye. A long day, a painful day, but a joyful day.
Leaves fall from the trees, they gradually break down and disintegrate, but their molecules are still there, they add to more life and energy, they are still part of the universe. They exist, existed, they have not exited this realm. A lot to think about. My gratitude continues as I remember sharing my life with her, my sister, my twin.
Twins on the TV, twins in conversations, twins on the Internet. It’s like the universe knows what’s going on, and bereavement too, so sad that there are so many loses. Each one gouges another piece from my heart. The smoke alarm went off a couple of mornings ago. I want cooking and there are no sockets or electrical equipment near to it. The only thing I could think of was to check the Internet. False alarms are caused by high humidity or maybe a small spider sneaking inside the alarm! Or my mind telling me my sister is haunting me? I’d rather see her in a dream, to properly say goodbye. I’m sad, but I have to accept what has happened.
Chatting with hubby after watching a programme about how the solar system formed and that Jupiter might have migrated inwards towards the sun only to be stopped by Saturn’s gravity causing it to take a grand tack like in sailing back out to its current position. They also talked a out Neptune and Uranus being formed closer to the Sun but being pushed out by Jupiter and maybe another unknown gas or ice giant being flung out of the Solar system entirely. Hubby said this if course discounts the fact that the Solar system could have been created in the current state by God! The thought that he thinks this surprised me! If the Universe is random how can we think (or prove) anything like that? I’m was a bit nonplussed. I think about infinity a lot. If there is a God and it is infinite would it be outside the universe or would it be the Universe with the objects in it being like how atoms relate to us? Some very strange ideas. One for a philosopher not me!
I was just reading a discussion on Instagram (a mistake) which said that if gravity was a bit stronger the universe would collapse (yes) or a bit weaker it would expand and fly apart forever (again yes). It then goes on to say, since gravity is so precise God MUST exist! I took umbridge at this I said :
Huh? There were possibly other universes that collapsed or expanded.. We are just lucky to be in this one. Its not precision its just that we are able to observe it. Its like saying I’m five foot three tall, therefore my short trousers fit!
In any case the Universe IS expanding, There is a considerable red shift and we can see Galaxies are moving apart. There is no sign that its slowing down… Has God forgotten and left the Universe on too low a gravity? I know – I’m cynical.
Mallaband-Brown 