Do We Live in a Giant Cosmic Bubble?2. Comment #257681 by Quetzalcoatl on October 1, 2008 at 12:51 am
3. Comment #257691 by reedbraden on October 1, 2008 at 1:09 am
4. Comment #257693 by GaryHeron on October 1, 2008 at 1:19 am
5. Comment #257695 by Quetzalcoatl on October 1, 2008 at 1:21 am
6. Comment #257697 by Quetzalcoatl on October 1, 2008 at 1:23 am
7. Comment #257699 by Sargeist on October 1, 2008 at 1:26 am
8. Comment #257717 by dvespertilio on October 1, 2008 at 2:39 am
I've been living in my own bubble universe for a long time. Doesn't everyone?9. Comment #257720 by Steve Zara on October 1, 2008 at 2:52 am
Comment #257695 by Quetzalcoatl10. Comment #257722 by Quetzalcoatl on October 1, 2008 at 2:56 am
11. Comment #257727 by Steve Zara on October 1, 2008 at 3:00 am
Comment #257722 by Quetzalcoatl12. Comment #257730 by moopet on October 1, 2008 at 3:07 am
13. Comment #257754 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 4:28 am
14. Comment #257946 by Old Sarum on October 1, 2008 at 9:26 am
The difficulty with the Copernican principle is that we know that there are many locations within the observable universe that are more "special" - in the sense of being more empirically restricted - than ours. And in many of these locations, there's no reason why observers shouldn't arise, & have to discover & comprehend the "special" nature of their own perspective of the cosmos, before they have any hope of making sense of it.15. Comment #257949 by NewEnglandBob on October 1, 2008 at 9:28 am
16. Comment #257987 by ggab7768 on October 1, 2008 at 10:11 am
17. Comment #258009 by Old Sarum on October 1, 2008 at 10:42 am
how much if any of the universe is outside of our observable part?
18. Comment #258012 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 10:44 am
Question: if the age of the universe is approx. 13.7 billion years: and the observable universe is approx 90 billion lightyears across, how much if any of the universe is outside of our observable part? beyond *that*, do we get nothing? or do we get other bubbles with possibly different physical laws?
19. Comment #258019 by dvespertilio on October 1, 2008 at 10:57 am
"Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble." Much ado about bubbles. Maybe the cosmos exist in a giant champagne bubble? Seriously, though, most of this stuff is way beyond me. I think "they" publish it just to keep us in the dark, so to speak.20. Comment #258030 by amalthea on October 1, 2008 at 11:14 am
21. Comment #258047 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 11:36 am
As I understood the whole concept of inflation, post-Big Bang, the spread of matter would be random, not even (it's not like it was engineered to impress, like, say a firework) and so I would naturally expect some random patches of concentration and, conversely, of void. I wouldn't really see ourselves as special by being in a 'void'. We just happen to be where we are.
Looking at what we can in the near universe, there seems to be a definite lack of uniformity, so it also seems reasonable to expect clumps and big gaps, or voids.
22. Comment #258058 by prettygoodformonkeys on October 1, 2008 at 11:51 am
23. Comment #258061 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 11:54 am
Are we talking 6,000 light years close? Because I know of some folks who would LOVE that!
24. Comment #258090 by aprocess on October 1, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I've been thinking along similar lines for years!25. Comment #258092 by Swordmaiden on October 1, 2008 at 12:18 pm
26. Comment #258094 by decius on October 1, 2008 at 12:19 pm
It could be that, while we think its getting bigger, the Universe is collapsing
27. Comment #258099 by Steve Zara on October 1, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Comment #258094 by decius28. Comment #258100 by decius on October 1, 2008 at 12:26 pm
29. Comment #258108 by decius on October 1, 2008 at 12:30 pm
30. Comment #258109 by aprocess on October 1, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Comment #258094 by decius: I think it would result in blueshifted as opposed to redshifted doppler effect, if that were the case.31. Comment #258112 by Steve Zara on October 1, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Comment #258108 by decius32. Comment #258125 by aprocess on October 1, 2008 at 12:51 pm
In the 'Crunchie' model there is likely to be an electromagnetic wave of trillions the magnitude of the entire output of the know universe heading towards us from the shell of the bubble. The only time we would sense it would be when the entire night sky goes white and the Earth is vaporised:(33. Comment #258132 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 12:54 pm
34. Comment #258146 by Ty_Webb on October 1, 2008 at 1:24 pm
First of all, the kind of bubble they talk about in the article has a radius of a few billion light years, so it is smaller than the observable universe. Then you have the kind of bubbles you get in inflationary scenarios. The exact size of these bubbles depends on the details of the inflation model, but they are typically much larger than the observable universe. What the conditions are like outside the observable universe is again hard to tell. There might be different "physical laws", at least for those laws where the details were determined by events taking place after inflation. And outside our bubble, the laws may be very different.
35. Comment #258150 by aprocess on October 1, 2008 at 1:26 pm
It may account for the missing Dark Matter as well as the faster outer Galaxies, because it influences the matter from our Big Bang through gravitation only. It also allows the potential for a more cumulative creation theory.36. Comment #258154 by decius on October 1, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Are we really able to detect supernovae at further away than a billion light years?
37. Comment #258161 by Oystein Elgaroy on October 1, 2008 at 1:40 pm
It may account for the missing Dark Matter as well as the faster outer Galaxies, because it influences the matter from our Big Bang through gravitation only.
38. Comment #258202 by bachfiend on October 1, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Sigh....Whenever I read an article on cosmology in "New Scientist" I always complain that I understand every single word, it's just the sentences I don't understand. I read the article in the wikipedia about the shape of the universe and I must confess that I prefer the flat universe one, if only because I am a secret closet flat earth believer.39. Comment #258314 by LeeC on October 1, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I just don't buy... so I will wait for the evidence.40. Comment #258356 by Palli on October 1, 2008 at 10:46 pm
As a law student, I like these science articles where they make an effort to simplify things.41. Comment #258359 by Raiko on October 1, 2008 at 11:15 pm
42. Comment #258639 by aprocess on October 2, 2008 at 8:40 am
argh... typed for ages then it didn't register :(43. Comment #258992 by j.mills on October 2, 2008 at 4:53 pm
As an aside, the observable universe is presumably getting larger (by around 1 light-year per year). Does that mean that at some point in the future, the entire universe would become visible (assuming it's not expanding)? And, does it mean that new things (if they're moving towards us from outside the observable universe) will pop into view over time?
44. Comment #259976 by PERSON on October 4, 2008 at 10:30 am
"The target audience absorbs a lot of the minor details without thinking much about them."
1. Comment #257677 by GaryHeron on October 1, 2008 at 12:35 am
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