Science & Culture Corner
NOW THAT WE KNOW THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE. . .
The Harvard Smithsonian building is an unpretentious building atop a hill at a far corner of Harvard University’s campus. Some of the complex is old and some, very old- old enough to still have fireplaces built to provide heat on cold winter days.
Yet many discoveries were born here, even the modern system for classifying stars according to their intensity. Now, in conjunction with NASA, and after eight years of calculations, questions first posed by Einstein are finding answers. That the universe is getting bigger has long been an established concept. The real question has been how fast. The rate of expansion profoundly affects many other questions. For example, were the rate too slow, the galaxies, indeed the edge itself, would eventually be sucked back by gravity in the same way that a golf ball thrown straight up will slow, then fall back to you (unless it is thrown fast enough- around 25,000 mph).
The figures in, we now know that the expansion has been going on for 12 billion years and covers an area some 15 billion light years across. At this rate, we can for the first time state that the expansion will continue forever and that we’ll be ever distancing ourselves from our already distant extra-galactic neighbors. In addition, all this is in line with predictions of big bang theory math, thus adding support to the theory.
It was Edwin Hubble who devoted himself to the importance of the expansion rate question, now referred to as the Hubble Constant. The orbiting Hubble Telescope (yes, also named after him) can take credit here for fulfilling its mission to provide the data for the calculations.
Note- for any of you who are wondering how matter could travel 15 b light years in only 12 b years time without exceeding the universal speed limit of light, I’ll just give you a hint: think carefully about in which direction the expansion traveled from the big bang. If you still can’t get it, write me at angelstephens@hotmail.com
EDITOR'S NOTE-
Angel Stephens as a Harvard student studied physics at the Harvard Smithsonian and writes today on the subjects of physical science and anthropology for numerous publications.
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