On 11 Nov 2012, at 23:35, Russell Standish wrote:
Rubbish, it not a measurement of the age of the universe, but rather
of the Hubble constant. It only corresponds to the age of the universe
in the context of a specific theory, usually the Friedmann universe,
which is one of the simplests solutions to Einstein's theory of
general relativity.
Journalists tend to oversimplify things, and get it so wrong.
You are quite right. Note that some physicists do seem to believe, in
the religious dogmatic way, that the Big Bang is the ultimate start.
Others believe that it might just be a local big explosion, or that
the big bang result from the collision of branes (in string theory or
M theory), and that it is not the beginning of the story. With comp we
"know" such thing at the start. The ultimate story is not even
physical at all.
Bruno
Cheers
On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 08:01:46AM -0500, Roger Clough wrote:
Hi Russell Standish
It's not theory, it's measurement to 4 figures, with an error of
plus or minus 0.87 %:
http://www.universetoday.com/13371/1373-billion-years-the-most-accurate-measurement-of-the-age-of-the-universe-yet/
"13.73 Billion Years -- The Most Precise Measurement of the Age of
the Universe Yet
by Ian O'Neill on March 28, 2008
Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on
Twitter
NASA? Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has taken the
best measurement of the age of the Universe to date.
According to highlyprecise observations of microwave radiation
observed all over the cosmos, WMAP scientists now have the
best estimate yet on the age of the Universe:
13.73 billion years, plus or minus 120 million years (that's an
error margin of only 0.87% ! not bad really).
The WMAP mission was sent to the Sun-Earth second Lagrangian point
(L2), located approximately 1.5 million km
from the surface of the Earth on the night-side (i.e. WMAP is
constantly in the shadow of the Earth) in 2001.
The reason for this location is the nature of the gravitational
stability in the region and the lack of
electromagnetic interference from the Sun. Constantly looking out
into space, WMAP scans the
cosmos with its ultra sensitive microwave receiver, mapping any
small variations in the background temperature (anisotropy) of the
universe. It can detect microwave radiation in the wavelength range
of 3.3-13.6 mm
(with a corresponding frequency of 90-22 GHz). Warm and cool
regions of space are therefore mapped, including the radiation
polarity.
Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net
11/11/2012
"Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen
----- Receiving the following content -----
From: Russell Standish
Receiver: everything-list
Time: 2012-11-10, 17:39:09
Subject: Re: 14 billion years ago there was a huge explosion
Not quite. It has measured that the universe 14 billion year ago was
very different from now, ie very hot and dense. All else is theory -
some theories have a beginning, others don't.
Cheers
On Sat, Nov 10, 2012 at 05:50:38AM -0500, Roger Clough wrote:
Hi Stephen,
Science has meaured the beginning of the universe
to have occured about 14 billion years ago.
So it has a beginning.
Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net
11/10/2012
"Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen
----- Receiving the following content -----
From: Hal Ruhl
Receiver: everything-list
Time: 2012-11-09, 12:26:47
Subject: RE: Life: origin, purpose, and qualia spectrum
Hi Stepen:
Interesting post.
I indicated in the initiating posts that life should rapidly
appear where
the conditions supporting it are found.
I suspect that in most cases the sphere of influence for a
particular
instance of a biosphere is small when compared to the size of the
universe.
Therefore I propose to change "heat death" to "operative heat
death" re your
"finite resolving power" for observers. This should allow for the
possibility of an "open" universe.
I am also considering changing "purpose of life" to "function of
life".
Thanks
Hal
Dear Hal,
What consequences would there be is the Universe (all that exists)
is
truly infinite and eternal (no absolute beginning or end) and what
we
observe as a finite (spatially and temporally) universe is just
the result
of our finite ability to compute the contents of our observations?
It is
helpful to remember that thermodynamic arguments, such as the heat
engine
concept, apply only to closed systems. It is better to assume open
systems
and finite resolving power (or equivalently finite computational
abilities)
for observers.
--
Onward!
Stephen
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