RE: [asa] George & heliocentricity

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
> [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On Behalf Of Dehler, Bernie
> Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 4:50 PM
> To: ASA
> Subject: [asa] George & heliocentricity
>
>
> Hi George-
>
> I'm not sure if you even clearly answered this question... and
> I'm really curious. A pithy answer would be great.
>
> Question:
> Suppose someone has this hypothesis:
>
> The Earth is the center of the universe.
>
> Do you think this can be scientifically disproven?
>
> I would appreciate it if your answer began with a 'yes' or 'no.'
>
> I think heliocentricity is a great analogy for many things, so I
> want to make sure I understand you completely.
>
> ,,,Bernie

I would say, no. The earth is at the center of the universe, but so is every
other point. Allan Sandage put it this way in an explanation of the Big
Bang.

"It is not as if the universe and the galaxies are expanding into a space
that is already there, space itself is expanding, carrying the galaxies with
it. The expansion creates the space. One can conceptualize this as the
two-dimensional analog, as the surface of a balloon. Mark a bunch of dots on
the balloon and blow it up and then imagine yourself on any of the dots. You
seem to be in the center, and all of the dots are moving away from you. Now,
take the air out of the balloon and look what dots do. All the dots come
toward every other dot. If you could take all the air out of a perfect
balloon, the surface itself would go to zero. All the dots would be back at
one place at on time, every place is the center of the expansion. When I
talk about this, the question that always comes up is, 'Well, can you find
the center of the expansion?' Every place is the center of the expansion,
there is no one center to the beginning, every thing was back at one place
and every place and every time was identical, in the beginning."

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Sat Jul 11 00:26:39 2009