Re: more evidence for dark energy?
Posted by cougar on Aug 12, 2003 at 21:07
(65.100.196.40)Re: more evidence for dark energy? (Dogrock)
If the orbits in our solar system are steady....
Well, actually our system's planetary orbits aren't so "steady".
We see expansion all around but it doesn't apply if viewed over small distances. Surely this suggests a puzzle. It suggests that near orbits are stable but further out ones can fall apart. This doesn't fit with the gravity theory I think.
Once you consider the distances involved, the theory of gravity fits fine. Expansion is so small that it is utterly undetectable except on the very largest of scales. It is undetectable within the hugeness of our entire galaxy. It is undetectable within the humongously hugeness of our very, very large local cluster of galaxies. But are you aware of how much space there is out between the multitude of galaxy clusters? You thought the space occupied by our galaxy cluster was big? The space between clusters of galaxies is orders of magnitude larger. We're talking unimaginably large. Bigger than a-man's waist size!
Anyway, it is there and only there - out between the galaxy clusters - that the expansion of space becomes detectable. So I hope you can imagine that the corresponding expansion of space between earth and the sun is unimaginably small, totally negligible, and utterly undetectable.
If you multiply each of my adjectives by a billion, you should get some idea of the real distances involved where universal expansion becomes detectable.
Follow Ups:
- Re: more evidence for dark energy? Dogrock 13/8 18:32 (0)