..from the origional big bang? And if so where does space travel fit into all this?
2007-07-10 11:04:02 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The last question first... it doesn't really have anything to do with space travel. Because the distances we traverse in space travel (at least now) are so small, universal expansion doesn't affect the distances we need to measure.
But, yes, the galaxies are moving apart from one another. The further they are from us, the faster they seem to be moving.
2007-07-10 11:09:33 · answer #1 · answered by meichx 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Technically the galaxies are not rushing away from each other. What is expanding is the space in between the galaxies. Imagine painting some dots on a balloon. Now when you blow up that balloon, the dots themselves did not move but the skin of the balloon expands which does make the distance between the dots increase. The reason that the further they are the faster they "move" apart is because there is a increasing amount of space between them that are expanding.
Now to the guy who says we only have 80yrs of data. That is wrong. It takes time for light to travel from where ever they started to Earth. When we see something that is 11 billion light years away, we are seeing that place as it were 11 billion years ago. The further we look, the deeper in the past we see. That is why we can tell that the expansion rate of the universe is speeding up.
As to space travel, any that are within the galactic cluster you needn't to worry because the gravity of all the stars prevents the space from expanding too much. Of course, with conventional space travel we couldn't even make it out of the solar system.
2007-07-10 11:59:56 · answer #2 · answered by zi_xin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes for the first. The farther is a galaxy, the faster is going away. This is a general rule but there are some galaxies that are near and can move approaching, and sometimes can collide.
The space travel is a different thing. First, those travels are for 'short distances' and I don't think that is possible to go to another solar systems. The distances are hard to imagine. The energy and speed required would be almost impossible to achieve. We can launch automated probes, faster that manned ones, but it would required thousand years to arrive to a near star.
2007-07-10 12:07:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The distances are so great it is like an ant traveling to the north pole. Even though u think u are traveling fast u are not. It will be a miracle if we do communicate with another Galaxy. I have used a star chart that was printed in the late 1800 and I could not see any change.
2007-07-10 12:30:36 · answer #4 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The galaxies will go faster because the distances will cause them to have less gravitational influence over one another. Space travelling to other galaxies probably will be impossible unless wormholes are 100% figured out & utilized.
2007-07-10 11:21:10 · answer #5 · answered by JERSEY BOY ♠♥♦♣ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're asking the wrong question, bubba.
If stuff is accelerating away from us, then "space travel" as you refer to it, is going to be impossible.
You just don't know anything about "theories". Research Edwin Hubble's work, would you please? Find out what got him started on the :"Big Bang" theory in the first place.
Then, learn about more recent measurements taken on the same objects Hubble observed and measured. Find out what revelation turned the "Big Bang" scientific fairy tale into "string" and "Membrane" scientific fairy tales.
By the way, "scientific fairy tale" = theory.
Theory is reverse "imagineering" of what maybe used to be from observations and measurements taken now.
We have about 80 years of "red shift" data taken against an observable universe that is at least 14 billion years old. That's a mighty short time-lapse snapshot to base the evolution of the entire universe on, but it's the best we can do with only 80 years worth.
2007-07-10 11:14:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes and no. The general trend is for galaxies to move away from each other as the universe continues to expand. There are localised instances, however, of galaxies moving toward each other and colliding, as our own galaxy has in the past.
Think of it the universe as a bubble. When a bubble is blown everything generally moves apart, but when you look closer there are ripples and clusters on the surface.
2007-07-10 11:16:37 · answer #7 · answered by Ben 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, according to all of the scientific texts that I own, this is correct.
Space travel at this time is limited in scope to our Solar System and possibly some deep space probes out beyond that.
2007-07-10 15:11:12 · answer #8 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋