28
votes
Is there physical evidence to distinguish between the expansion of space and an anthropocentric universe?
I'm looking for some kind of observable evidence (that has been observed, or could be observed in the future) that could falsify one or the other theory.
You seem to be requiring one (very high) ...
- 5,878
23
votes
Are there any galaxies which fell out of sight horizon due to cosmic expansion?
No. In fact the opposite is the case.
(See the last paragraph for an intuitive explanation.)
It is a common misbelief that galaxies receding faster than the speed of light are not visible to us. ...
- 35.6k
23
votes
Accepted
In km/h, what actually is the "speed" of Andromeda away from us: cosmologically?
The rate of expansion, measured in the customary units of (km/s)/Megaparsec
is not known with great accuracy. Recent measurements include 67.6 (SDSS-III), 73(HST) 67.8 (Plank) 69.3 (WMAP) [wikipedia]
...
- 104k
21
votes
Accepted
Will we start seeing galaxies disappear due to Universe expansion?
It is a common misconception that galaxies receding faster than light cannot be observed. There are two versions of this misconception:
Galaxies that are now receding faster than light cannot be seen....
- 35.6k
20
votes
Accepted
What equation tells you how far in space you can go from a point and return?
Preparation
Let $a(t)$ be the cosmic expansion factor. Let $x$ be a comoving coordinate, so two objects (like galaxies) that are separating solely due to the expansion of the universe have a constant ...
- 1,383
16
votes
How do we know we're not getting bigger?
Matter contraction: If everything got twice as big then you are right that rulers etc. would not be able to measure it. However, some physical constants are expressed (partly) in meters, and it would ...
- 261
16
votes
What equation tells you how far in space you can go from a point and return?
sten's answer is excellent and beautifully analytical; I just wanted to illustrate the journey and show that neglecting matter (and radiation) is a good approximation.
Spacetime diagram
To do this, I ...
- 35.6k
14
votes
How do we know we're not getting bigger?
We do not know whether or not we live in a simulation in which our capricious simulation overlords have conspired to hide evidence that we are growing larger. Discounting that possibility, science ...
- 32.4k
13
votes
Accepted
How does the concept of a universe with no center work?
When we talk about the universe, we are really talking about one of two things:
The observable universe, which is everything we can possibly see.
The Universe, which is everything that has ever ...
- 7,870
13
votes
Could there really be a preferential direction to the speed of light?
Prior to Einstein's 1905 paper, the Lorentz transformation had already been worked out by Lorentz and others. Only their interpretation of it was lacking. They still clung to the idea that there was a ...
- 2,882
12
votes
Accepted
Where does the energy of light go, when it red-shifts?
The problem is that conservation of energy is a slippery concept in General Relativity. There are arguments back and forth but most people accept that conservation of energy is only a local law - it ...
- 132k
12
votes
Accepted
Local neighbourhood and Superclusters
Structure formation
Structure in the Universe — galaxies, galaxy groups, clusters, and superclusters — forms from regions of the Universe which are denser than the average; dense enough the overcome ...
- 35.6k
12
votes
Does a measuring stick with a size of a billion lightyears in intergalactic space keep the same length in expanding space?
There is no Aristotelian/frictional force that drags things along with expanding space. The motion of objects is governed by
inertia
ordinary gravitation, which is an inward acceleration (note: ...
- 2,882
11
votes
Accepted
How far would EGSY8p7 be away now?
30.4 billion lightyears.
The current distance — i.e. the distance that one would measure if we froze the Universe and started laying out measuring rods — is called the proper distance, or physical ...
- 35.6k
11
votes
Accepted
If an object 1 billion light years away emits light, does it take more than 1 billion years to reach us because of the expansion of the universe?
Yes, in the time it takes light — or, in this case, gravitational waves (GWs) from the black hole merger event GW190521 — to travel from a source to an observer, the Universe expands, thus increasing ...
- 35.6k
11
votes
Accepted
If we could fly off edge of observable universe what would happen?
The 'edge' of the observable universe is as much a edge as is the 'edge' of how far you can look from the roof of your house: none at all, it's just a limit to our vision. We can never reach this edge ...
- 14.3k
11
votes
Is there physical evidence to distinguish between the expansion of space and an anthropocentric universe?
The anthropocentric picture does not explain observations of the present and distant cosmic microwave background (CMB)?
Are we to suppose there is a large, spherical shell of optically thick gas ...
- 132k
10
votes
Accepted
Evolution of the Hubble parameter
The solution to the Friedmann equation in a flat universe is
$$H^2 = \frac{8\pi G}{3}\rho + \frac{\Lambda}{3},$$
where $\rho$ is the matter density (including dark matter) and $\Lambda$ is the ...
- 132k
10
votes
Accepted
Are there other proofs of the expanding universe apart from the redshift?
Yes, there is direct, non-red-shift evidence of expansion.
The past temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) has been directly measured and found to be substantially higher ...
- 1,189
10
votes
Is the age of the Universe really 13.8 billion years?
The age of the universe is not calculated based on the size of the visible universe. The age of the universe is being calculated based on the fact that the laws of nature have no direction. This means ...
- 849
10
votes
Is there physical evidence to distinguish between the expansion of space and an anthropocentric universe?
I think StephenG is right, but I will mention one counterfactual. Suppose we observed no galaxies more than a billion light-years away, as determined by their red shifts. Say they were roughly ...
- 3,099
10
votes
Is there physical evidence to distinguish between the expansion of space and an anthropocentric universe?
I would like to point out another flaw in the question: the model "everything moves away from us proportionally to its distance" is not actually anthropocentric in a basic approximation.
Let'...
- 201
9
votes
Accepted
When the universe expands does it create new space, matter, or something else?
Yes, space is constantly being created. The new space does not hold any matter (like atoms) or dark matter. This means that the density of normal and dark matter decreases at the same rate as the ...
- 35.6k
9
votes
Is there any proof of space being created?
This is an intriguing proposition, but I would ask how your hypothesis explains that the universe appears to be flat? That is with $\Omega_M + \Omega_\Lambda = 1$. The evidence for this comes from ...
- 132k
9
votes
Accepted
How is the Universe's Expansion Accelerating if the Hubble Constant is Decreasing?
The Hubble parameter is defined as the rate of change of the distance between two points in the universe, divided by the distance between those two points.
The Hubble parameter is getting smaller ...
- 132k
9
votes
Accepted
Is the eventual heat death of the universe due to the expansion of the universe?
As far as I understand it, the heat death of the universe is a consequence of entropy, not expansion. All processes result in the shifting of some energy to higher entropy. Though the observable ...
- 6,164
9
votes
Accepted
Cosmological redshift vs doppler redshift
After considering @benrg's comments, I realize that my first answer contained too strong statements about the relation between the two redshifts. I try here to moderate my answer, but you might want ...
- 35.6k
9
votes
Would an observer standing at the edge of the "observable universe" perceive the expansion of space-time?
If you move to a position 46 billion light years away, the universe probably looks almost exactly the same as it does here (at least on large scales).
The only reason I add "probably", is ...
- 132k
8
votes
Accepted
Will gravitational waves too far away ever reach us?
The answer here is very similar to if you were asking about light.
In principle gravitational waves might allow us to fractions of a second after the big bang. Electromagnetic waves can see back to ...
- 132k
8
votes
Are there any galaxies which fell out of sight horizon due to cosmic expansion?
As time passes, there are galaxies that are currently not in the observable universe which will become observable But this is not a sudden winking on. Instead, over hundreds of millions of years we ...
- 104k
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