2006-11-02 14:17:34 · 11 answers · asked by freezerburn 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The best analogy I have read is to put a bunch of small dots on a balloon and observe different dots as you blow it up.
Pick any dot as "stationary" - you will see all of the other dots moving further away from it - and this allusion is true no matter which dot you choose as a reference - it becomes "the center" of the balloon with all the other dots in "motion" - sound like an expanding universe, doesn't it?
The "dot" we are on is called, "earth."
2006-11-02 15:41:16 · answer #1 · answered by LeAnne 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every point in the universe will appear to be the center of the universe from that point. Nothing special about the Earth except that is where all of us view the universe from.
2006-11-03 00:11:07 · answer #2 · answered by taotemu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LeAnne has it right.
We are assuming that your question has to do with the fact that we see distant galaxies red shifted in every direction that we look into the universe, and the furthest ones are moving away from us at a faster rate.
The balloon model works to explain it where you treat the universe as a 2D surface.
Another way to look at it. Think about an exploding artillery shell. Some fragments will move outward from the center of the explosion faster than others. If you are sitting on one that has a a speed between the slowest and the fastest, all of the other fragments will all appear to be moving away from you, and the farther ones appear to be moving away at a faster rate. Since in your reference frame the fragment that you are on is NOT moving (you are not accelerating) it would appear to you that you are at the center of the explosion.
2006-11-03 02:36:49 · answer #3 · answered by amused_from_afar 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because the Earth is so small compared to the rest of the universe that everything appears as if it were infinitely far away. Even the Moon, which is hundreds of times closer than anything else in space, is so far away, 30 times the diameter of the Earth, that it can be considered infinitely far away for most purposes, like pointing and focusing a telescope on it.
2006-11-02 22:36:57 · answer #4 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Any point on Earth looks no different from any other point on Earth, so no matter where we on Earth, it's always 12,500 miles to the point furthest away from us. Likewise, any point in the universe looks no different from any other point in the universe. It always looks like about 14 billion light years "to the edge of the visible universe". This is simply a higher dimensional generalilzation of the Earth example.
2006-11-02 22:23:48 · answer #5 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is all an illusion. Or actually, a state of mind. We just like to think we are the centre of the universe. We are so insignificant, that we are probably about 100,000,000 light years from the nearest outpost. But hey, at least it isn't so crowded here.
2006-11-02 22:25:27 · answer #6 · answered by GORDO BLAKHART 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
actually, according to some astrophysicists. we ARE at the center of the universe. . (a new theory suggests it strongly)
Check out Dr Russ Humphreys' new cosmological model.
2006-11-02 22:25:34 · answer #7 · answered by Wayne A 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because we are looking through rose-colored glasses.
2006-11-02 22:28:35 · answer #8 · answered by szydkids 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
actualy, what is most visible is just our own galaxy, the milky way, other galaxys are visible, but just appear as other stars.
2006-11-02 22:21:33 · answer #9 · answered by Big hands Big feet 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When you are the focus of the funnel of light, you will feel that.
I feel really tiny...
2006-11-02 22:20:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋