The expanding universe

[matt_london]

I understand from various sources that the Universe is currently expanding. If this is correct, why can't we observe the current direction of galaxies etc and then rewind the clock to see where the big bang was?

[fo3nix]

That's exactly why there is the idea of the big bang in the first place. But we can't see exactly where it took place because we can only see a very small part of the universe.

[Clanad]

Well, the question would have to be asked, where in reference to what? The Universe has changed so much for a multitude of reasons over its 14.5 billion year history that a where would be a meaningless question... in my opinion...

[boobesque]

its not as simple as looking at where the universe is expanding from. it seems that everything is moving relative to everything else. so to us the universe is expanding with us as the centre, yet someone in a distant star system would see the universe as expanding with them at the centre. i know that some things are moving towards us but this is largely due to the gravity that our galaxy exerts on its own components.

the reason why the universe is expanding with every point as the centre? nobody knows.

[mibn2cweus]

From point (A) we see every thing moving away from us. Same as from point (B), (C) or (D).

So, no matter where you go, there you are.

[Zork]

It depends which universe you are in ;0)

[nucleardream]

Currently, we are depicting a map or terrain of the universe and its origins - at least the origins of major celestial events (i.e. supernovas, etc). It's called neutrino detection and there are measurement devises sunk hundreds of feet into the Antarctic ice as we speak. Neutrinos are one of the smallest particles known to man - invisible, massless (sounds like a photon), etc. that can only be dectected when they become literally obliterated with a photon - giving off a "blue spark." They continually "rain" down on Earth, thousands of them passing through a person everyday. And nothing stops them. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of them that strike the earth pass right through the entire sphere. The only way that they can be destroyed, hence detected or seen, is if they strike precisely with a phonton, someting that only rarely occurs. That's why the ice in the Antarctic is such a great medium to use (ocean depths have been tried as well) because of the transparent nature of the ice there. These detectors (long rods literally melted into the ice using hot water presssure) can detect the neutrino-photon collision that is the end result of the neutrino trying to pass through the volume of the Earth. A neutrino has the capability to forever travel the depths of the universe (in exactly a straight line) unless its path comes into conflict with a photon, in which it becomes obliterated. Radiative events produce neutrinos, and like dark matter, are omnipresent in our universe.

[nucleardream]

and to continue...

Based on deduction from the neutrino-phonton spark (literally blue in colour), the detectors can detect from what area of the universe the major events happen (i.e. the larger the radiative event - the more neutrinos it gave off). The earth experiences more neutrino entry from the north, thereofre the results are based from reverse-extrapolation from the southern continent. We can now accuratly predict the areas the universe where major radioactive events occurred, ultimately mapping the terrain of the universe and its evolution.

My alma mater, the Univ of Wisconsin-Madison has recently sent a series of neutrino detectors to the Antarctic, called the IceCube. Find out more here,

http://www.news.wisc.edu/12310.html

[nucleardream]

it's not as simple as "where we are, that's the way things appear." We do know a lot about the universe. If you are not aware of any insight, then please do not comment. We as a human species have evolved greatly since the late 1800's and early 1900's of Newton and Einstein. We know more than they did - so let's start acting like it.