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How do YOU imagine the Universe?

Guest telescope4u

By Guest telescope4u
in Physics, Space Science and Theories

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foundaplanet

foundaplanet

Posted
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Ever since I saw the fairly recent picture of the universe with the Dark Matter factored in and connecting the galaxies, I thought it looked a lot like a brain.

What if all of us here on Earth were just part of the brain of a humongous being.

What if our existence was just the physical manifestation of an idea, or an emotion, of this giant being.

(And if so, what would that idea or emotion be? Love, or anger? The recipe for Coq-au-Vin, the cure for cancer, or "gee I need to scratch my butt"?)

That for the moment, is what I feel when I think of the universe.

Very nicely put..a rolling stone....:)

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Sadly I accept that I can't imagine it in the way I can imagine local things. I have to work with words and analogies.

Beware of all the big bang graphics on the telly. They are totally misleading, showing explosions from the outside.

The 'book answers' disallowed by the OP are, however, efforts of imagination in their way and are very worthy. But can I visualize the universe? Alas no, only a bit of it at any one time.

Olly

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lw24

lw24

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I'm not really sure, I think I imagine the universe as being, BIG, with a few galaxies dotted around (every now and then! :)).

Other than that, I don't really know what else there is to imagine?

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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I'm not really sure, I think I imagine the universe as being, BIG, with a few galaxies dotted around (every now and then! :)).

Other than that, I don't really know what else there is to imagine?

Well, the geometry of the thing, for example. Cosmologists talk of open, flat or closed models. Can you imagine these? I can't, but I can grasp the idea.

Olly

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Glen

Glen

Posted
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Used to think the "edge" of the Universe was a big ol' brick wall governed by flying? monsters - like a dragon I suppose..

O.K I was young then :) but now (and this will get you thinking) IF there is an edge and you was at it (theoretically travelling at the same speed of expansion), what happens when you take a step further, does it get a little bigger?

What happens when you shine a beam of light?!?

I watched a bit of Through the wormhole recently, good for ideas I suppose.. new theory suggest we have a neighbour next to our "balloon" Universe.

A cold spot shown in the Cosmic microwave background data is drawing/ has effect on the galaxies close by..

Other than that I tend to stick with unthinkably huge and old :(

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Macavity

Macavity

Posted
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I was doing fairly OK, until I came across... (string?) duality. The idea that the universe may be either very large and expanding or very small and contracting, depending on measurement method? "R" or "1/R"? Yet somehow we still manage to FIT into it (them) and the laws of physics are the same... I think! ;)

I take consolation that some folks can WORK with such ideas. I sense it's a (Feynman?) truism that rather few folks completely understand the first 20 pages of a typical "modern physics" text? <G> Not entirely convinced tho' - There are some SERIOUSLY bright sorts around in (theoretical) physics and astronomy... :)

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
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my answer?.......an expanding disc, expanding into relative time and space.

No, but the disc IS time and space. It isn't expanding into anything. If there were anything for it to expand into, that something woud be part of the universe.

In the BB theory all that there is is expanding.

Olly

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meteoriot

meteoriot

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This may not be exactly scientifically accurate but here are my simplified thoughts

Quarks make up subatomic particles which make up atoms which makes up matter which makes up planets/asteroids etc which makes up solar systems which makes up galaxies which makes up the cosmic web which makes up the universe to the point where it's too big for us to see further. Why should it stop there? The universe in my imagination is just a tiny part of something much bigger. I imagine it to be spherical like all the smaller things that make it up.

If I was an observer big enough, then the universe is just like a particle popping into existence before disappearing again (as they do on our scale)

Time and scale would have to be in the eye of the beholder rather and I hope that makes sense to at least one person as i struggle to express my imagination most of the time.

Richard

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redgiantjohn

redgiantjohn

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Earth is roughly 470,300,000,000,000,000 miles away from the edge of our galaxy,if we times that number by 100,000,000,000 (the number of the known galaxies in the univesre) then add in the distance of all the empty space in between the galaxies..then your brain will melt we can't possible comprehend the vastness of it all.

We are the equivelent of a vibrating string on a sub quark level sat in the middle of a planet thinking about the size of it is just impossible

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meteoriot

meteoriot

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Earth is roughly 470,300,000,000,000,000 miles away from the edge of our galaxy,if we times that number by 100,000,000,000 (the number of the known galaxies in the univesre) then add in the distance of all the empty space in between the galaxies..then your brain will melt we can't possible comprehend the vastness of it all.

We are the equivelent of a vibrating string on a sub quark level sat in the middle of a planet thinking about the size of it is just impossible

Is it big? Or are we just small? Or both!

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meteoriot

meteoriot

Posted
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Ever since I saw the fairly recent picture of the universe with the Dark Matter factored in and connecting the galaxies, I thought it looked a lot like thr neural network of a brain.

What if all of us here on Earth were just part of the brain of a humongous being.

What if our existence was just the physical manifestation of an idea, or an emotion, of this giant being.

(And if so, what would that idea or emotion be? Love, or anger? The recipe for Coq-au-Vin, the cure for cancer, or "gee I need to scratch my butt"?)

That for the moment, is what I feel when I think of the universe.

I though the exact same thing. Well sort of. Watching a program with a bit about dinosaur brains it showed computer graphics of inside the brain on a microscopic level an the first thing I thought was 'that looks like the cosmic web!

Please let me know if you can see the attached pics

Richard

post-24431-133877631312_thumb.jpg

post-24431-133877631314_thumb.jpg

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obscura

obscura

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Posted

The earth was flat so one could fall off the edge so it was once said. Then some bright spark looked up and saw, for the very first time, that the moon was round! Another saw moons orbiting Jupiter. What!! Could it be? The decision was taken by some parliament near the thames that the earth was round! Gordon Bennet! One day they'll claim that we are not the centre of the solar system! Imagine that.

The universe is similar but unimaginable. tis to me.

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