Einstein said light waves actually bend the closer you get to a large object. It could be that a distant star's light (and its other radiation) bends as it crosses the all those billions of galaxies with the trillions of other suns. What we end up seeing in the night sky may be ricocheted and distorted reflections of a star's image. Scientists may be basing conclusions on distorted data. What do you think?
2007-07-30 15:26:07 · 12 answers · asked by Wait a Minute 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Great answers. I looked up gravitational lensing and it does seem to be what I was thinking about.
Can we assume the degree of effect of this phenomenon in distant areas of the universe are the same as our this corner of our gallaxy?
2007-07-30 15:42:14 · update #1
You are right and there is plenty of scattered radiation in the universe but the red shift and temperature of the cosmic microwave back ground (CMB) exactly matches predictions of it based on the Big Bang theory.
2007-07-30 16:41:25 · answer #1 · answered by Michael da Man 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Uhm ... scientists aren't total idiots. Since they are aware of gravitational lensing, they can will take this into account. Also, it is not the precise positions of the stars (which can be distorted) that is the point, but the speed at which distant galaxies are moving away from us, which is measured using red-shift. There is a direct correlation between distance from us and the speed at which they are receding (the greater the redshift). No gravitational lensing, or other distortion has been proposed that could possibly explain this, as an alternative to the far simpler theory that the universe is expanding.
And the background radiation also cannot be explained by any kind of distortion.
2007-07-30 23:09:48 · answer #2 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think what your question says is =what happens to light as its giving us information from stars and galaxies as viewed from earth.
Star light reaches us from a long distance. However it does not reach us in the same line of time. But at a different angle and is afected by gravity as is any other mass when its moving thru a strong gravity field or strong magnetic field.
The magnetic field tends to distort light(see Mossbauer effect).
The gravity field bends the rays Just like a lens.(see theory on Gravitational lensing).When we receivelight from the sun on Earth we can observe in the Evening a bending of light= It called refraction.On earth its a function of the differnt medium density the light is passing thru(see refraction phenomena of the atmosphere)
Big Bang theory Was originated From George Lemaitre.
Later it was explained in terms of a solution from Einstein's General relativity =Field equation,called a singularity.
What scientists are observing is real.However How they see the data from cosmic radiation and telescope requires interpretation. Not ot all scientists interpret data the same way.So science theories and experiments to prove those theories are all subject to interpretation. Just like a Jury in a trial interpret evidence. Does it mean ,just because they are a Jury called to judge the evidence,that they are always right?
2007-07-30 22:55:30 · answer #3 · answered by goring 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They already know this for a while! And its why they are even using these gravitational lenses to observed other stars located much farther away! So to answer your question, no they don`t based their conclusions on distorted data but it doesn`t means that their Big Bang theory is complete...
Lates discovery in the field:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070703-big-bounce.html
2007-07-30 22:41:00 · answer #4 · answered by Jedi squirrels 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All of this was taken into account the the physicists, who came up with the SAME conclusions separately (all 3 of them).
We don't know at what point, for example, GAMMA RAYS fall back to the center of the universe, as EINSTEIN SAYS THEY WILL.
This is an uncertainty and even EINSTEIN couldn't give us a hint as to how or when it would happen.
When it happens we'll know.
Einstein says if you launch a rocket UP from EARTH it will return to EARTH eventually.
HE NEVER SAID when or how.
He just said it would.
2007-07-30 23:49:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Okay. I grant you that "some" light is bent by gravity. Now, once it is bent, it then continues in a straight line from that point onward. so the gross efect is that when you look at an object in space, you don't see the light that was bent and went of in a different direction, the only light you see is the light that came straight at you. Certainly you don't believe that all of the light from a star would be bent...
2007-07-31 00:58:19 · answer #6 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, yes, of course, but the bending of light is well understood, so this is taken into account. If you see a star, the light from it may indeed be distorted slightly; but all the stars we see are *extremely* close to where they appear to be.
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2007-07-30 22:33:46 · answer #7 · answered by tsr21 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gravitational lensing was predicted by General Relativity. And so was the expansion of the universe.
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2007-07-30 23:53:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think what you're talking about is called "gravitational lensing." Cosmologists are well aware of it and it is taken into account in their calculations.
2007-07-30 22:30:09 · answer #9 · answered by stork5100 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
find an article about EINSTEIN'S CROSS and read the related data...nice photo also...this will bend your mind also
2007-07-30 22:32:22 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋