Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » Allegedly there are 125 BILLION galaxies in the OBSERVABLE universe. How "they" know that is beyond me. So vis a vis BIG BANG. Where was it?

Allegedly there are 125 BILLION galaxies in the OBSERVABLE universe. How "they" know that is beyond me. So vis a vis BIG BANG. Where was it?

In our galaxy?
In the OBSERVABALE universe?
Everywhere including what is "out there" we can't observe?

How is it possible to KNOW?

Posted - May 6, 2021

Responses


  • 10637
    This Is just an estimate.  They photographed a small section of space, counted what they saw, and used a computer to extrapolate an "overall" estimate.
    We cannot see beyond the "observable universe" simply because light from beyond that point hasn't had time to make it here yet.  After all, light can only travel at the speed of light.
    Of course, we can't "see" all the observable universe either.  Something like 27% is dark matter.  It's estimated that all the matter that makes up the stars and galaxies only accounts for 5% of the content of the universe.
      May 6, 2021 4:32 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Seriously? Whaddabout the other 95%? Oy vey! I'm positively verklempt Shuhak. How do you get your head around it? Thank you for your reply! :)
      May 7, 2021 5:03 AM MDT
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  • 10637
    I have no clue. 
    I can't get my head around it.  However, what it does do for me is to further strengthen my faith in God. 
      May 7, 2021 10:09 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Whether one takes the GOD (supreme being by whatever name in whatever faith) or the science route it's miraculous isn't it? I think it boils down to which is more logical. Something out of nothing all of sudden happens billions of years ago with no known reason...mindless as it were. OR there is an intelligence behind it. Don't you think it's one or the other Shuhak? For me it was never a choice. I just grew up in a home that included GOD. Not that my parents were very religious at all. But my mom took us to church on Sundays and there was never any question. I have never once tried out the other way. It's just not in me. Doesn't mean I'm a goody goody. It's just the more logical of the two. I honestly don't know what my dad believed. I know my sister and mom believed but of the three of us I guess I'm the most "religious". I don't know that for certain. I just know since I can remember I've "talked" to GOD every day. I've never discussed the subject with my sister though we are close. It's just such a personal thing. I don't "look down" on those who don't believe though I'm pretty certain they "look down on" me. It doesn't matter either way. If I had to CHOOSE which path to take I'd always choose the one with the happier ending. But it's never been a CHOICE. It just is. Some of the foofoo attendant thereto is not my cuppa tea but so what? We all have our ways of coping with things and walking our paths and I just think my way has the happier ending. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)
      May 8, 2021 2:14 AM MDT
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  • 10637
    Science points to God.  Many don't want it to, so they desperately try to "prove" otherwise ... but they always fail.  It's like trying to prove that the Mona Lisa was painted by a freak tornado.
      May 8, 2021 12:11 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    You know what popped in my mind Shuhak? I have heard that if you had a certain number of monkeys sitting at typewirters pounding away among them one would come up with a best seller! Did you ever hear that too? Odds I guess are calculatable even on that. People can only believe what makes sense to them. So when you come upon the QANONS you can see how desperate crazy people can be. What makes sense to them is that Democrats are engaged in a worldwide plot involving cannabalistic child sex trafficking demons. And however many crackpot QANONS there are believe it. How do you disabuse crackpots from believing what they believe? You don't. You can't. They are beyond help. We do the best we can as we navigate life. As my dad said when I was a little girl..."people do their best and some people's best isn't very good." Well truer words were never spoke! Thank you for your reply Shuhak! :)
      May 9, 2021 3:59 AM MDT
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  • 16772
    Extrapolation. Even the CMB is a relatively new discovery, it practically nails down the Big Bang as to "when" but not "where", by definition it occurred everywhere at once - because there was nowhere else for it to be.
    It's perfectly okay to say "I don't know", but scientists hate that - so they prefer "we don't know YET". That requires an assumption that we will know some day, despite the very real likelihood that some things are inherently unknowable.
      May 6, 2021 4:38 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    So there is a closed door we can never open then R? I keep HOPING one day "all will be revealed". How when or why I don't know but I still hope. What is CMB? And out of nothing came something right? How is that possible? My brain cannot stretch that far. Does yours? Thank you for your helpful reply. I know that assume makes an a** out of you and me but beyond that will be ever find out if we assume to be is or isn't? AARRGGHH! :)
      May 7, 2021 4:22 AM MDT
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  • 16772
    Cosmic Microwave Background, the "echo" of the Big Bang.
    Nobody is saying that something came from nothing, "in the beginning was the singularity". All matter, antimatter, dark matter etc was compressed into a space smaller than an atom. Nobody knows how or why it exploded, or why it didn't collapse under its own gravity back into a singularity again. Einstein postulated "antigravity" but couldn't get the math to work, and neither could Paul Dirac who was rather better at it.
      May 7, 2021 8:55 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    It seems that way to me R. I'm not being hardnosed or difficult on purpose. But just read what you wrote m'dear? "All matter, antimatter, dark matter etc was compressed into a space smaller than an atom." WHAT? Who or what put it there? It just was? Everything has to have a beginning doesn't it? A starting point. A front a middle a back. This is where my mind fails me. I cannot comprehend it. You seem to and I wish I had your brain because the way you describe it is so "matter of fact". SIGH. I keep hoping that one day all will be revealed. There are so many possibilities aren't there? Thank you for helpful and informative reply.  You already know I don't understand it but the fault is not yours. I will keep grappling with it until I die after which I HOPE I find out. Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)
      May 8, 2021 2:20 AM MDT
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  • 16772
    You can't really talk of "a time before the Big Bang" because space-time per se didn't exist before that. That's where "time" began, an entity couldn't stand back and observe it because there was no "outside" from which to observe it. Words an inadequate tool and I don't have the right sort of math.
      May 8, 2021 5:16 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    Thank you for trying m'dear. I really appreciate it but honetly and truthfully I am hopeless. Like an old dawg gnawing on an old bone. Did anything exist BEFORE TIME BEGAN? I can't imagine nothing existing. Isn't that an oxymoron? Time began without a catalyst? The fire started burning and there was no match? I know. I can't stop asking the same question in a different way. I'm stuck there and I cannot get beyond it. SIGH. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)
      May 8, 2021 6:13 AM MDT
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  • 2706
      They don't know that there are 125 billion galaxies in the observable universe. It's a guess on their part. Science also says that the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years old. But two weeks after making that guess, the popular summary of another study was published. It claims the universe is 1.2 billion years younger than that—“only” 12.6 billion years old.

    This younger age that the popular summary published was based on what the paper said about the expansion rate of the universe and light from distant galaxies. So which is it? 13.8 billion years or 12.6 billion years? Why such conflicting results? Perhaps because they have the wrong starting point?

      Scientists believe that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which they call the Big Bang. This was supposedly the singular starting point to everything that exists. The beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself.

    Sounds good on paper but what science can't tell you is the origin of this "singular starting point. Did it somehow create itself? Did another singular starting point create it? If so, what created that starting point? They also can't tell you what "caused" this enormous explosion of energy and light to occur. What was the catalyst that fired it up? And what brought all of this beginning chaos together to form the extremely complex universe that we now see, hear, and enjoy? :)
     
      May 7, 2021 5:30 AM MDT
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  • 13395
    Big bounce theory..

    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/big_bounce

    The universe recycles itself ad infinitum.

    Nothing can create itself.
    The Scientific Law of the Conservation of Energy/Matter states that matter/energy has always existed; cannot be created or destroyed.


    This post was edited by Kittigate at May 7, 2021 11:04 PM MDT
      May 7, 2021 1:43 PM MDT
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  • 16772
    A lot depends on gravity and how it interests with "dark matter/energy", which we don't know anything about. The theory is that dark energy is driving the expansion of the universe, but we still have no clue about exactly what dark energy is or how it interacts with normal matter/energy in spacetime. Like looking for a black cat that isn't there in a darkened room at midnight.
    Gravity is a surprisingly weak force, but when it's the only game in town, it just MIGHT bring expansion to a halt. The predominant idea among physicists is that it won't, expansion will continue ad infinitum and "heat death" is the most likely hypothesis.
      May 7, 2021 8:48 PM MDT
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  • 13395
    Almost all galaxies have a black hole at the center consuming the material of the galaxy and as galaxies are consumed by the black holes this would cause expansion to cease then gravity would pull the black holes closer together causing the universe to shrink to the point of a 'big crunch'  eventually so all the material of the universe is consumed by a single huge black hole. Then another big bang will occur to create a newly recycled universe. Unless the unknown forces of dark energy and the influence of dark matter play into the picture; the unknowable factor.
      May 7, 2021 10:13 PM MDT
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