h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm a bit confused by the equations at the end of this entry. If the speed of light is constant C and Hubble constant is constant, then the Universe size if given by a constant divided by a constant, which must surely equal a constant. Thus the universe must have always been and always will be the same size? (Universal size, one size fits all)

Similarly in the equation for the age of the universe when the speed of light is cancelled out, as it appears both top and bottom of the equation then the age of the universe becomes one over Hubble contstant.

I'm sure it must be me, is there something that I've missed? can you clarify these points? Also you talk throughout in billions, do you mean 10^9 or 10^12?

There are no constants in this univeres, even light slows down.
Heres an example:


Shapiro effect
[Categories: Relativity]

The Shapiro Effect, also known as the Gravitational Time Delay is the Quick Facts about: slowdown of light
Quick Summary not found for this subjectslowdown of light in the presence of a Quick Facts about: gravitational
Quick Summary not found for this subjectgravitational field--an effect predicted by Quick Facts about: relativity theory
(physics) the theory that space and time are relative concepts rather than absolute conceptsrelativity theory.

Dr. Irwin I. Shapiro wrote in the Journal of Astrophysics in 1964: "...according to the general theory, the speed of a light wave depends on the strength of the gravitational potential along its path." In other words, the theory of relativity predicts that the speed of light is reduced when it passes through a gravitational field.

In his letter, Dr. Shapiro further suggested that a test of relativity theory could be made by observing delay of Quick Facts about: radar
Measuring instrument in which the echo of a pulse of microwave radiation is used to detect and locate distant objectsradar signals returned from the surface of a planet in our solar system. He estimated that the effect of the sun's gravitational field on the radar beam would delay the returning signal. The maximum delay would occur at the beam's closest approach to the sun.

His idea was to bounce radar beams off the surface of Venus and Mercury and measure the total time it would take for the beams to return. Since the relative positions of the planets, the earth and the sun are known quite accurately, the expected travel time of the radar beam could be computed with great accuracy as well.

Relativity theory predicts that the total time for the radar beam to go from the earth to the planets and back, at the closest approach of the radar beam to the sun, would be increased by 200 microseconds compared to what would be expected if the sun were not there. This is an easy time difference to measure.

The first test, using the Quick Facts about: MIT
An engineering university in CambridgeMIT Haystack radar, was successful, matching the predicted amount of time delay. Shapiro presented his results in 1968. The experiments have been repeated many times since, with increasing accuracy.

The universe is infinite and the big bang never happened!

Would you read this paper and send me your comments?

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0108051
From: John A. Tomsick [view email]
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 23:18:49 GMT (12kb)

Quasi-Steady State Cosmology
Authors: G. Burbidge (UCSD)
Comments: 14 pages, in Proceedings of Frontiers of the Universe Conference, 17-23 June 2001, in press

A brief historical account of modern cosmology shows that the standard big bang (BB) model, believed by so many, does not have the strong observational foundations that are frequently claimed for it. The theory of the Quasi-Steady State Cosmology (QSSC) and explosive cosmogony is outlined. Comparisons are made between the two theories in explaining the observed properties of the universe, namely, the expansion, chemical composition, CMB, QSO redshifts and explosive events, galaxy formation, and the m-z and theta-z relations. Only two of the observed properties have ever been predicted from the theories (a) the expansion predicted from Einstein's theory by Friedmann and Lemaitre, and (b) the acceleration predicted by the classical steady state theory and the QSSC.
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I think it itm commonly understood that a billion is :
1000 million.
that the population of the earth is about 7 billion.