Expert: James Gort - 4/24/2010

Question
Mr. James Gort,
First, I would like to say that I lack any college level education in on the subject of the big bang, and am mostly talking from a highschool education. That said, I was wondering that if, in fact, our universe does originate from a big bang, we shouldn't be able do observe the farthest reaches of at least one side of the universe. (the farthest reaches of of the universe being the furthest away celectial bodies) My line of reasoning is simple; If all matter was once at a single point, all light emitted from stars etc. should always be visible at that point. (Assuming of course that, in fact, nothing can traval as fast as light)So if the earth were at the very center of the universe, we would be able to see all of the stars. This, to the best of my knowledge, however, is not the case. So, if you imagine the universe to be an ever-expanding disc,(for the sake of simplicity) and the earth were somewhere between the center and the edge, then we should be able to observe the stars at the edge, and those at the center, and possibly some beyond. This is just a curiosity of mine, and it may already be verified or explained.
Thank you, Louis

Answer
Hi Louis,

First of all, I want to remind you that the origin of the universe by a "Big Bang" is very much still a theory, and there are alternative theories.  Some observations do not support an expanding universe or the Big Bang.  There are several references concerning this, but perhaps the most authoritative person is Halton Arp, a leading astronomer and researcher on galaxies, who wrote "Seeing Red".  That book is highly recommended to get an alternative view.  Or read "A Different Approach to Cosmology" by Hoyle, Burbidge, and Narlikar.  Another great book which gives a scientific view on how the universe has always been in a steady state.


The Big Bang, if it occurred, wasn't a "Bang" at all.  Many people think of it as an explosion, where all matter was in some place (you mentioned a "point") and then violently exploded outward into space.  This WAS NOT the Big Bang.  The Big Bang was the expansion of space-time into "nothingness".  (The region outside of space-time is not defined).  So the expansion didn't originate "somewhere", it originated "everywhere", because everything that exists today was part of the expansion.  We were PART OF the Big Bang.  It didn't happen at a distant "place" from us, it happen TO US.  This is difficult to understand.  In this respect, it's not like the expanding balloon analogy.  A balloon has a center.  The universe has no center (and least in three dimensions) and no edge, because it didn't originate in a point.  It originated in "all points" - all space was involved.  It was the expansion of space itself!

With powerful telescopes, we can actually look "back in time" and see young galaxies forming not too long after the Big Bang.  We might even find the conditions for life there (but it would be long before life would actually form there).  If there were humanoids in those galaxies NOW (which is billions of years later) and if they had powerful telescopes, they could also see our young galaxy (the Milky Way) forming, billions of years ago - before life formed here on earth.   It's a hard concept to imagine, but we're just as "close" to the Big Bang as that distant young galaxy is.

Hope that helps.

Prof. James Gort