The Universe

Wow, thats pretty impressive to think about North. You always have this image growing up of a science fair Solar System and how close everything seems to be. Put it in your scale and it's kind of mind blowing to think about just how far everything is.

I missed the topic question. Just because it had something to do with religion.

actually though while doing some research i did find some interesting qoutes in the Quran about Universe

Originally posted by eaglecap there are no atheists in fox holes-

Edited by Paul - 20-Feb-2009 at 18:37

Originally posted by Northman I remember one thing that helped me to realise how big the universe is, was just to scale our solar system down to a more conceiveable size.   Imagine we scale everything down to a scale where our star, the sun would have the size of an orange - and place that orange in the middle of a soccer field here in Denmark. The earth would be a grain of dust or a pinpoint, orbiting half way towards the sideline. The outmost planet, Neptun - an even smaller grain of dust - would not be on the field - but orbiting in the distance of three soccer fields - still in relation to the little orange (sun) in the middle of the first field. Maybe not so impressive you might think - but what about the distance to the next orange (the closest star to our sun) - where would we be looking for that in this scale?  Before you read on, try to imagine where we should place that second orange. In another part of town? - or even in the next city perhaps??    When you have an idea of your own of how much empty space there is between two neighboring stars, scaled down to oranges - read the correct answer by highlighting the empty space   ROME, ITALY   here.   Another little trivia is, that it will take us 100,000 years to go there with the speed we travel in space today, ie. when we go to the moon.

Originally posted by Paul Saying all religions aren't invented seems to me to be a very dodgy piece of ground to stand on to me.

Isn't that the Bahai's piece of ground?

Originally posted by Bey When one understands how mind-bogglingly huge and old the universe is and how new and insignificant we are in it, there is no way you can believe the fairy tales in Quran or Bible. Their incredible pettiness is suddenly revealed by the bright light of truth, and the mind breaks its shackles and goes free from such primitive superstition.

I see exactly the same evidence, but I interpret it in exactly the opposite way.

Originally posted by Northman I remember one thing that helped me to realise how big the universe is, was just to scale our solar system down to a more conceiveable size.

I am not sure that the universes size is particularly important. Its the mystery that it contains, and the potential for discovery.
Just because something is big, it does not mean that it is more important than something that is small. Size is merely a scale, an obsticle, and an opportunity.

When I look out my window I look directly at the Brindabella mountain range, part of the Snowy-Highlands in SE Australia. I am looking at valleys that no human has ever been to, places where unprepared bush walkers have dissappeared without trace. For all I know there could be a completely ruined neolithic metropolis hidden beneath the trees within my eyesight and we'd have no idea about it.

If you look too far you miss what is in front of you, and if you look too close you miss what is far. Distance is only a matter of perspective, physical distance isn't as important as intellectual distance.

Originally posted by Northman I remember one thing that helped me to realise how big the universe is, was just to scale our solar system down to a more conceiveable size.

Once people become accustomed to the idea that the universe is for all we know endless, we will find another way to ignore it.

In most models it isn't endless. It has finite boundaries at any given point in time. The law of conservation of energy demands it, and the expansion of the universe confirms it. However, because space-time is only a side-effect of light and matter, it is not expanding into an empty space, it is space and it's expanding space itself.

For example, have you ever consider it odd that there is a giant ball of fire in the sky?

No, not really. How could it be any other way? Nothing living can survive in deep space, so I would never have occurred there. Unless there is life that has evolved using other heat energies like, say, geothermal processes inside dark bodies (asteroids etc) far outside of solar systems.

Edited by edgewaters - 22-Feb-2009 at 04:22

Ako, i lost a good post.. either way it would led to a theological debate, maybe its best not for this thread

Edited by Leonidas - 22-Feb-2009 at 07:41

Originally posted by Leonidas Ako, i lost a good post.. either way it would led to a theological debate, maybe its best not for this thread