Question For Any Amateur Cosmologists, Astrophysicists, Space Thinkers...

[Mitch Cronin]

Cool. All is good so far....

What the "thing" was inside of, is what I think bothers all of us.... if it's not infinite, or hasn't always been, there must have been an edge.... what was on the other side of that edge? That kind of thought..... Not long ago, the best answers to be had about that seemed to simply suggest that again, it's our cockeyed, limited-by-three-dimensional-space, way of thinking, that creates the puzzle. But lately it seems more and more thought has been in the direction of things like "The Multiverse" and Multiple Bubbles of Universes, or so many space dimensions that we'd come away worse off than with just our original thought puzzle.... That sort of stuff seems to be only plainly comprehensible to those who can do the math.

Edited to add: It sounds like you might not have a good understanding of what anti-matter is Boestar?.... If I'm right about that, I can tell you anti-matter is not just theoretical. It exists for real and is even used in medicine... a PET scan is Positron Emission Tomography... Positrons are the anti-matter mate to electrons.

[conehead]

According to Dr Hawking;

http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-beginning-of-time.html

He states that there have been variations detected in the cosmic background radiation, which indicates that the universe is expanding at different rates in different places. He does not answer the question though, is it still expanding?

[John S.]

What a thread!

I was flying with a YYC based pilot the other night on a flight over western Canada when he started pointing out the constellations and stars by name. This fellow was by far the most knowledgable pilot (on the subject of astronomy) I've every flown with. I was so intreagued that we turned down all the cockpit lighting to bet a (much) better view.

I could clearly, for example, see the one constellation visible from both Canada and Uruguay.

He pointed out what is thougt to be one of the biggest stars in the sky. He said that if that star was put where our sun is the diameter would stretch to Jupiter.

Now that's something I can think about without going nuts (like when thinking about boestar's "OK ponder this." posting.)

[boestar]

When I was working at AC back when they still had DC8s. We had one left that still had the sextant in the cockpit. I spoke to a second officer / navigator and he was well versed in its use. Does anyone know when that skill was no longer taught to pilots / navigators? I would assume it would be around the time INS systems were installed.

[Mitch Cronin]

I could clearly, for example, see the one constellation visible from both Canada and Uruguay.

I'm thinking surely there must be more than one? ....I wouldn't know, having never been very far south.... But if there's only one, I'd guess it'd have to be Orion? ... and that would likely be Betelgeuse he was telling you about?

[Moon The Loon]

Here is a timely article in this month Scientific American:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/big-bang-secrets-swirling-in-a-fluid-universe/?&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20140226

Big Bang Secrets Swirling in a Fluid Universe

With a new approach that treats the universe as a fluid, cosmologists plan to tease out the fine details of the big bang from its behavior and evolution

Feb 21, 2014 By Natalie Wolchover and Quanta Magazine

We are back to the Primordial Soup Model!!!!

[Moon The Loon]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/multiverse-controversy-inflation-gravitational-waves/?&WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20140402

The idea of the multi-verse, a concept I've imagined for decades, is gaining steam. Or is it ether...or dark matter...but certainly not consensus!

"Multiverse Controversy Heats Up over Gravitational Waves

The BICEP2 experiment’s potential discovery of spacetime ripples may provide support for the concept of many universes, but critics are unconvinced

Mar 31, 2014 |By Clara Moskowitz

The multiverse is one of the most divisive topics in physics, and it just became more so. The major announcement last week of evidence for primordial ripples in spacetime has bolstered a cosmological theory called inflation, and with it, some say, the idea that our universe is one of many universes floating like bubbles in a glass of champagne. Critics of the multiverse hypothesis claim that the idea is untestable—barely even science. But with evidence for inflation theory building up, the multiverse debate is coming to a head.

[Kip Powick]

Can't find a humorous sarcasm smilie .....so.......

[Moon The Loon]

LOL!!!!!!!!

But truly, this is a proof-of-concept illustration of Infinity - no beginning, no end. Therefore...cannot be proved/disproved - the antithesis of Science.