Expert: Tom Whiting - 11/19/2007

Question
Astronomers tell us that with the new telescopes they can see events that occurred 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

Assuming the Big Bang occurred roughly 14 billion years ago,
if light emitted 13 billion years ago is just reaching us,
doesn't that mean that the earth is moving away from those events at over 90% of the speed of light?  

Or is my logic flawed?

Answer
Hi Ron....
Hmmm....very interesting question...very good question too....let me think about that one for a moment....

Ok, your logic would be perfect IF the Big Bang were a point source "out there" somewhere in space, and we were on the "outside" looking in at it....not part of it.  But that's not what happened.  We ARE part of it, and surrounded by it.
The Big Bang, within the first second, the space-time continuum expanded exponentially, and in an "inflationary"sense, became all encompassing,
including our known visible Universe, and perhaps a lot
more space beyond that....we just don't know the total size
of the Big Bang influence.  But we are IN it, surrounded by
it.  So the Big Bang Sphere of influence includes everything we know, including US..-the Earth, Solar System, Milky Way
Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster, everything.
(Unlike matter, creation and expansion of the space-time continuum  can and did, violate the light speed -speed limit
as c only applies to matter and energy!) and thus.....we're ALL part of the Big Bang sphere of influence, ON THE INSIDE, because no matter which direction in space we look, we're always looking backwards in time, therefore no matter which way we point our antennae, we still receive the same red shifted radiation....it's ALL around us; we're surrounded by it because WE are IN it, and not looking from the outside in, but rather from the inside OUT.  
Therefore, what we see redshifted is the all-surrounding remnant radiation on the very outside of our sphere of spatial creation, and THAT is what is receding from us at a significant fraction of  light speed!!  Since all velocities are relative, I guess you could turn that around and say that, well,  the Earth/Solar System is what is doing the receding, but....in which direction?  (In mathematics, velocities are vectors, there HAS to be a stated direction)!  BUT it (the remnant BB radiation) is all surrounding, therefore there is no direction to travel "from something"...from some point source, THUS directly showing that it's the BB remnant radiation that's doing the receding outward from us, (us being our entire known Universe) on the outside, rather than the reverse, on the inside.
Hoping my logic isn't flawed either,  ;-)
And hope this all helps,
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie PA


FOLLOW UP:
Oh, and before you ask, that same logic applies to all
those very young galaxies out there 13 billion lightyears that we see in the visible light part of the spectrum.....no matter which direction we look,  if we look deep enough, they are going to find millions of nascent galaxies only one billion years, or less in age, than the Big Bang itself.....we're totally surrounded by them out there some 13 billion light years.  And thus they are all doing the rapid receding from us, not we from them.
Clear skies,
Tom W.