Space: The Final Frontier

[Ollkiller]

I've become fascinated by all this stuff in recent years and try to wrap my one remaining
brain cell around it in some small way. I was thinking about black holes a year or so ago and had a little Eureka moment. First I was thinking that if black holes actually bend space dragging it in a given direction, then that must mean that the universe has an up and a down. Then mulling it for another minute or two I realised I had been picturing them the wrong way all along as they are always depicted as a hole in two dimensions,  presumably for convenience, but rather, when a star goes supernova it expands in three dimensions,  then crushes back down into a point in its centre. This must mean that the space around it warps in three dimensions as well,  so a black hole is three dimensional, like a sphere of nothingness rather than how I'd have previously imagined it as like a stocking shape. One of you eggheads can probably explain the flaw in my thinking.

Or perhaps to put it more clearly, the event horizon is a sphere, not a ring.

Well put

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/ten-things-you-dont-know-about-black-holes

Says it's a sphere all right in that article.

[Eoin McLove]

I actually came to a complex conclusion about black holes based purely on instinct. I think I can proudly retire now 

[son of the Morrigan]

John D Barrows "The Book of Nothing" is an excellent read with regard to vacuums and the nature of space.
His book "the infinite book" is even better, dealing with infinities and their relation to the universe/multiverse.

I've been obsessed with the idea of creation out of nothingness for years to the extent of it driving me a bit mental on a few occasions.

Simon Singhs "The Big Bang" is a mighty read.

I'm not actually fully sold on the big bang theory to be honest, I don't know why, I've read fucking reams about it and It all seems very reasonable but something about it just doesn't sit right with me, and on more than a philosophical level.

[Eoin McLove]

What are the other options on the table? I must pick up some of these books.

[Carnage]

I haven't a clue, but the visualisation of the black hole in Interstellar was fairly cool.

And praised as being a visually accurate one by astrophysicists, if memory serves.

[astfgyl]

I haven't a clue, but the visualisation of the black hole in Interstellar was fairly cool.

And praised as being a visually accurate one by astrophysicists, if memory serves.

I remember reading that at the time actually, now you mention it. Was a bit of a shame what happened to the film after that bit though

[son of the Morrigan]

What are the other options on the table? I must pick up some of these books.

Fred Hoyles steady state model would be the main other option.

[Eoin McLove]

To Google!

Interesting concept. I'll have to investigate it more as I'd naturally be inclined to think along the lines of the big bang theory. I wonder if the universe is like a pump that continually expands and retracts back to nothing, pumping like a heart. Another idea I had recently, which will probably influence lyrics along the way, is that perhaps the universe and everything in it, along with everyone who has, does and will ever exist, move forwards and backwards through existence on a perpetual track. We are born, we live, we die and then at some stage in the unimaginably distant future we will undie, live our lives in reverse and become unborn... and so on forever.

[Emphyrio]

Black holes are very interesting. Sadly not quite like the wormholes in Star Trek.

[Emphyrio]

And not that I'm averse to reading, but are there any documentaries/TV series that delve into this stuff. I've watched the original and rebooted Cosmos shows, which are fantastic, just wondering if there's owt else out there.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

And not that I'm averse to reading, but are there any documentaries/TV series that delve into this stuff. I've watched the original and rebooted Cosmos shows, which are fantastic, just wondering if there's owt else out there.

Spacetime on PBS YouTube channel is excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/c/pbsspacetime/playlists

[Emphyrio]

Cool, will check it out. Ta!

[leatherface]

Possible E.T. signal, pretty fascinating, article is a while back but I believe investigation is ongoing:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/18/scientists-looking-for-aliens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star


I think Stephen Hawking was once asked about whether we should be trying to look for alien life and his answer was more or less along the lines of "I don't think it's a safe idea", which is not a glib statement but makes you think what he may be afraid of.

[astfgyl]

Possible E.T. signal, pretty fascinating, article is a while back but I believe investigation is ongoing:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/18/scientists-looking-for-aliens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star


I think Stephen Hawking was once asked about whether we should be trying to look for alien life and his answer was more or less along the lines of "I don't think it's a safe idea", which is not a glib statement but makes you think what he may be afraid of.

Read that a while back and now seeing it again I'm instantly put in mind of this https://earthsky.org/space/alpha-centauri-travel-time. Not that exact article, but the fact that the nearest star is 40,000km away at current capabilities.

I'd say we will have to crack time travel in both directions before we ever get close to finding out what is actually happening at even the closest star. The closest star out of countless trillions and possibly an infinite number (if one can actually wrap their heads around the inevitability and impossibility of infinity), and humans will have to avoid extinction for long enough (relatively speaking) to figure out how to bend the fabric of space and time to a degree of accuracy which would enable accurate time travel, calibrated to whatever system of coordinates is in use when it happens, down to a margin of less than a mile or two in a couple of light years, to find out what if anything is there.

So our best hope of coming into contact with intelligent life outside of our own solar system is for that to find us. And if they are advanced enough, surely subjugation or worse would be the likely result? Hawking might be onto something..

[leatherface]

Possible E.T. signal, pretty fascinating, article is a while back but I believe investigation is ongoing:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/18/scientists-looking-for-aliens-investigate-radio-beam-from-nearby-star


I think Stephen Hawking was once asked about whether we should be trying to look for alien life and his answer was more or less along the lines of "I don't think it's a safe idea", which is not a glib statement but makes you think what he may be afraid of.

So our best hope of coming into contact with intelligent life outside of our own solar system is for that to find us. And if they are advanced enough, surely subjugation or worse would be the likely result? Hawking might be onto something..

Exactly. I would have to concur with Hawking on this one. We might be better off not attracting too much attention, if we attract any at all. Alien life is all very well and romantic in theory but would you like the idea of an 'Independence Day' style visit to the planet? No thanks.