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Astrophysicists create the first accurate map of the universe: It’s very flat, and probably infinite

Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 9 months ago to Science
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I think this points out some problems for the big bang and for general relativity. Thoughts?

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  • Posted by Zero 9 years, 9 months ago
    I'll wait for a consensus to settle out.

    Personally, I have strong reservations about applying the word "infinite" to the physical world.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    When I was taking General Relativity in grad school, there were no measurements of G and really no answer on how to ever measure G. Thus the mathematicians were allowed to play and come up with all sorts of universes. I think that they have tried to measure G now and I think that a flat universe requires a certain value for G, but I do not know for sure..
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  • Posted by jceockwood 9 years, 9 months ago
    I saw somewhere that the gravitational constant is not that constant and that values for big G have been changed over time. Is there any truth to that?
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 9 months ago
    Finally, something sensical coming from observation instead of mathematical manipulation.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I am not an expert, but a lot of the fancy cosmology ideas are based on the idea that the universe is not flat. In General Relativity this relates to the universal constant, which was a fudge factor.. The other post I put up about Carver Mead describes a new idea of gravity based on Mach's Principle and does not need this fudge factor.
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  • Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 9 months ago
    I wonder how long a time frame is need to prove/confirm rate and direction of expansion.
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