Accelerating Universe Expansion

[annielaurie]

My idea is not so stupid now after reading this article.

I clearly shows that the author thinks that space is being created ... not just expanded.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... 22bbl.html

Article extract:

Stars will disappear, the sun will go out and then the Earth and our bodies will be ripped into pieces.

This Big Rip might be the way our universe ends and it may happen "on literally a human time scale", Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt says.

At a public talk by the Australian Astronomical Observatory in Sydney last night, Professor Schmidt - a joint winner of the 2011 Nobel prize for physics - described how our universe is rapidly expanding.

The 'Big Rip' ... it'll end Earth.

The expansion will eventually force our neighbouring galaxy - Andromeda Spiral - to merge with our Milky Way in about 3 billion years, Professor Schmidt said.

While it sounds messy, the space between our stars means it will be less like a train wreck and more like two swarms of bees coming together, he said.

Nevertheless, it will irrecoverably alter our view from Earth.

"We will see stars but we will look out into an empty universe," he said.

Professor Schmidt said only 4½ per cent of the universe is made up of things we can see - atoms, while the rest is invisible.

Dark matter makes up 24 per cent and dark energy the remaining 72 per cent.

Once this dark energy takes over, it will cause more space to expand, creating more dark energy, "which can then push harder against gravity, creating even more space".

"The creation of space eventually can happen even more quickly than light can travel."

This could lead to one of the "craziest theoretical ideas" and one of Professor Schmidt's favourites - the Big Rip.

"You will see the stars in the sky start disappearing as they accelerate beyond the speed of light.

"Then one day the sun will go out.

"Then, not too long after, you and the Earth will be ripped into pieces."

Or it could end in a less dramatic fashion.

Either way, Professor Schmidt said, unless dark energy suddenly disappears very quickly the universe it seems is fated to expand and fade away.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z214QEoQie

Nope, not such a stupid idea after all, Nova.

They now think that the fabric of spacetime is stretching because it is creating more and more volume everywhere, and that the galaxies are actually not moving very much at all, they are staying where they are.

They think spacetime is what is gravitationally holding each galaxy intact, so that the outer arms of the spirals are rotating just as fast as the galactic centers, and that the fabric of spacetime is creating more distance between them as it creates more of itself.

I read yesterday that at its current rate of expansion, it will take about 22 billion years before the universe rips ... that is ... expands to such a size that it fades away altogether.

[Neferti]

I read yesterday that at its current rate of expansion, it will take about 22 billion years before the universe rips ... that is ... expands to such a size that it fades away altogether.

Nobody we know will be around then. Wonder whether they will still be arguing about whether there is a god that created the world or not?

If scientists are so smart why can't they reliably predict tomorrow's weather?

[annielaurie]

Nobody we know will be around then. Wonder whether they will still be arguing about whether there is a god that created the world or not?

If scientists are so smart why can't they reliably predict tomorrow's weather?

Yep, could be they will still be arguing about God, even then!

If some of our descendants make it past the next thousand years on earth without wiping out civilization with nukes, fighting over religion, territory and political ideology, then it could be they will get down to business developing faster space travel, and ships large enough to transport enough people to start colonies in other solar systems.

But travel even to Centaurus, the nearest solar system to ours, would take 81,000 years, using the propulsion technology we have now.

http://www.universetoday.com/15403/how- ... rest-star/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Probably developing off-earth orbiting space habitats right here in our own solar system would be a better alternative than interstellar travel. But they would not accomodate nearly as many people as a planet would, of course.

In some three billion years from now, our sun will start to expand into its red giant phase, and will not be habitable any longer. Our descendants will need to get off the planet by then.

The sun will produce a giant bubble of plasma that will engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, but the frigid outer planets will heat up, so maybe people could live in habitats orbiting one of the moons of Saturn by then.

Who knows?

[Super Nova]

Check the video with this story out.

Stars align for bird's eye view of a curious mission to Mars

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z21OHtstL0

[Super Nova]

There’s only one question for Nasa: is anybody out there?

We need to stop spending enormous sums of money on sending astronauts into space and start looking for signs of life.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/spac ... there.html

I agree with this article in part. Private enterprise should lead the charge into the solar system, NASA should focus on this big questions. Private enterprise will not take any longer really. NASA should lead the way making it's technology and knowhow open to private enterprise endevours. I think they do that through their large outsourced projects.