Question, the big bang theory explains the birth of this galaxy right? The explanation of the universe being born and setting an age for it is impossible because no one knows how big the universe is.

Actually, the Big bang theory explains the birth of the entire Universe, which is composed of countless galaxies including our own.

But how is that possible? Wouldn't you have to know where the center of the universe is to even measure it's age?

There is no "centre of the Universe"; it is everywhere (it's you and it is also me).

The age is calculated by back-tracking the visible Universe back to when it was all in one place. (This is not the centre of the Universe). This back-tracking is based on the expansion that is apparent.

It is true that the "whole" Universe is bigger than the part that we are able to see, but that doesn't change the calculation.

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G'day seven47fly, and welcome to the BAUT forum.

It's possible to extrapolate from what motion we can measure.

Think of it this way: imagine you had a rubber band which could contract to zero length, and had marks on it at various points. If it was being stretched at a steady speed, you'd only need to measure the rate of change of interval between two marks to work out how long ago it had zero length. And of course, you could take several such measurements to confirm your original finding.

You might want to listen to these Astronomy Cast episodes:

http://www.astronomycast.com/astrono...-the-universe/

http://www.astronomycast.com/astrono...-the-universe/

http://www.astronomycast.com/astrono...-the-universe/

http://www.astronomycast.com/astrono...-the-universe/

Rob

Thanks people I'm grasping it now.

The Big Bang Theory is completely flawed. The reason is because of the Horizon Problem... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_problem


Inflation theory is just a band-aid put on the Big Bang Theory to preserve it. But even the Inflation theory suggests that the Big Bang was a small bang and then later there was a Big Bang. So 2 bangs?

The more I read about these theories, the more I laugh.

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Ummm maybe you should read that wikipedia article you linked because the Inflation portion of the big bang actually provides the solution to the "Horizon Problem".

Because of inflation the universe could have had many different geometry and during inflation much of that would have been stretched out to appear very uniform and flat even though if you looked at a much larger scale you may see that it is wrinkled.

In addition inflation solves several other problems aside from the horizon problem (specifically, the magnetic monopole problem and the flatness problem). It also predicts an interesting pattern of polarization on the CMB, although I'm not sure whether that has been observed yet.

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With the level of understanding my education has equipped me with ( life experience )included.
I can not find fault with the Big Bang therie... There is no room for argument there, or here.
It would have been a very big bang. Its the over simplistic name that is the problem.
Could we have found a better descriptive for 'it'. Like the Great Expansion.
The birth of this universe and the Big Bang just do not help me imagine what really happened ... but that's another thread... sorry

There may not be room for argument 'here' (this topic) but I am sure there is plenty of room for argument 'there' (ATM).

Sounds too much like an over-eating disorder to me

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The Big Bang theory doesn't necessarily explain the origin of the entire universe (which may or may not have an origin in any convential sense) but it does explain the origin of the current state of the observable universe and most likely quite a bit more besides. And quite nicely. That is to say it does a rather good job of explaining our observations of the universe.

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Maybe if Arcane posted a link to relevant discussions in the ATM forum, he might be allowed to do so here?

There should be no apartheid in Science.

John

But there is apartheid in this Q&A forum. Read the rules for posting. This is a place to ask questions and get Mainstream answers. ANything else is off topic for the Q&A Forum.

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