If the universe is expanding why do all the stars still appear to be in the same place as they did thousands?

Question

of years ago when astronomers started recording their positions?

Answer 1

On a local level, such as within the cozy confines of our home galaxy, gravitational forces far outweigh the effects of expanding space. Even out as far as the local galaxy group, it's gravity and not expansion that determines the motion. For example, the nearest large galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is moving towards us, not away.

The stars we see are indeed moving, but the motion is due to their orbits around the galactic center, not the expansion of the universe. And the stars are so far away that their change in position from century to century is not apparent to the naked eye.

We can detect the expansion of the universe only by the red shift it causes in very distant objects. The change in distance due to expansion is less than one part in ten billion per year and is not measurable.

Answer 2

Because the light from the stars takes thousands of years to get here, so we are seeing the stars' positions as they appeared 2000 years ago.

Answer 3

you're incredibly suitable to assert that the upward thrust of the universe is considered as galaxies getting "faraway from one yet another like the molecules of the water poured on a table". that's going to be much greater precise if the floor of the table is a sphere so as which you would be waiting to have a radius and the middle the place the vast bang befell. enable us to assert that the table is now no longer there. what's left is a water bubble. we can take that water bubble as our universe. The radius of the bubble is time. Galaxies and all their components, at the same time with us can purely exist on the floor of the bubble. the upward thrust of the universe, as all of us comprehend it, is particularly like the increasing in length of the water bubble. simply by fact the radius or time will strengthen in any respect factors, the floor of the bubble stretches increasing the distances between the galaxies as they get faraway from one yet another. you may call this strengthen any call you elect although that's broadly believed that the upward thrust of the universe is pushed by using the rigidity call darkish capability and that the only concern that should generate such rigidity is the vast bang.

Answer 4

The stars appear to be in the same positions to the naked eye--but they aren't--they are so far away that it takes a very long time (centuries) for the changes to become visible. And the stars we can see are only the ones very close to us (in interstellar terms) within a few hundred light years, with one or two exceptions. The rest of the univers extends millions of times farthher.

Answer 5

Actually they haven't remained the same. Constellations have moved over the decades. Astronomers just keep moving the positions to different stars so that they still make the same shape roughly.

Answer 6

Simply, because they are so bl00dy far away, you cannot see them with the naked eye, you would need a `Hubble to see anywhere near the them to see any difference in position. Of all the billions of stars up there we are only able to see about 3000 with the naked eye. The ones we can see are so near they would appear not to have moved out of position. Look at it this way, take two pieces of string about 100 yards long, lay them parallel to each other, hold two ends together and stretch out the other two, keeping them together side by side, now assume that the two ends furthest away are stars,keeping your eye on the two strings about three feet away, have the two `stars` moved apart by about 1 foot and note if you see any difference between the two strings about three feet away. Get the idea?

Answer 7

The star's positions DO change with time. But from our viewpoint, the motion is extremely slow, and cannot be detected by distance measurement over ordinary human life spans. Even though their relative velocity may be very high, they are so far away that the perceived motion is very small. it is like the inverse of the effect you see when riding in a car or train: nearby objects move by very fast, but distant objects like mountains seem to be still.

Stars have motion not related to the expansion of the universe; these motions also are not observable easily, but it is known from ancient observations that the constellations looked different in ancient times because of stellar movement. However, in one lifetime that motion is not apparent.

Answer 8

its a known fact that the stars are not in the exact same place they were thousands of years ago. However, from our prespective the difference may not appear very large, because of the difference in the time scales involved. Billions of years againist at most thousands of years of human history. But formations such as the big dipper are undergoing changes in shape all the time.

Answer 9

WE DO see the universe expanding and the stars ARE moving very fast by our standards....like maybe 150 m/s or so. but the distances between them are SO great that we perceive them as still in the same places.THEY HAVE moved.....but we just can't tell!! if you go ahead in time about 1 million years and look into the sky you will see a difference.

Answer 10

Stars move along, + the position they occupy to an earth observer is like a still framed picture. In 3D you`ll see a different picture. Stars, are not relative to an earth bound observer.