Sunday, October 7, 2012

A YOUNG UNIVERSE AND DISTANT STARS PART III NEW COSOMOLOGY



Greetings all my fine friends! How have you all fared this past week? Mine was a busy one as usual but much more manageable than the earlier crazy weeks. Time management is of the essence when multitasking!
And speaking of time (and management - lol) we left off last week with the challenge to try to figure out how time could be effected in the equation;  time = distance ./. speed.
Well, if you recall Einstein's theory of relativity, there are two things that are thought to distort time; time and gravity. In general, his theory – which is even today the best theory we have that explains gravity – point toward gravity as an entity that can distort time.
Different equations of general relativity (GR) have even proven this. For example clocks at the top of very tall builds run faster than those on the bottom floors. “When the concentration of matter is very large or dense enough, the gravitational distortion can be so immense that even light cannot escape. The equations of GR show that the invisible boundary surrounding such a concentration of matter (called the event horizon, the point at which light rays trying to escape the enormous pull of gravity bend back on themselves), time literally stands still.”1   
If you recall from last week, creationist physicist Dr. Russel Humphreys has worked on a new cosmology theory. His theory states that the universe has boundaries. In other words there is a center and an edge. Interestingly enough the bible tells us there is a first, second and third heaven. Most creation scientists relate the first heaven with our atmosphere, the second heaven with the cosmos and the third heaven being the home of God and the angels, where Jesus is preparing a mansion for us. So logically and scripturally it seems the universe has boundaries. (Just for comparison, the big bang theory makes the subjective assumption – without any evidence or otherwise to back it up – that the universe is infinite with no edge and no center).
Dr. Humphreys’ theory  - that the universe has boundaries – would mean a net gravitational effect toward the center would be present (with earth being the center). So clocks on earth would run at a different time than clocks at the edge of the cosmos (just as clocks at the top of a tall skyscraper run faster than those on the ground floor). And don’t forget God Himself is outside of time altogether. 
We can observe from the stars that the universe has expanded in the past. The bible even supports this with phrases such as, during creation He stretched out or spread out the heavens. Does this support the big bang theory? No! Now let me explain…and it gets a little technical but don’t give up reading, and don’t give up trying to understand…
Let’s say the universe is not much bigger than what we observe today. And let’s say it was only 50 times smaller in the past than it is now. Logic tells us (based on GR) that it has to have expanded from its previous state (50 times smaller). There would have to have been something that caused it to expand (called an event horizon). This even horizon (technically known as a “white hole” – the opposite of a black hole) is allowed within the equations of GR.
“As matter passed out of this event horizon, the horizon itself had to shrink – eventually to nothing. Therefore, at one point this horizon would have been touching the earth. In that instant, time on earth (relative to a point far away from it) would have been virtually frozen. An observer on earth would not in any way ‘feel different.’ ‘Billions of years’ would be available (in the frame of reference within which it is traveling in deep space) for light to reach the earth, for stars to age, birth of a stare, etc. – while less than an ordinary day is passing on earth. This massive gravitational time dilation would seem to be a scientific inevitability if a bounded universe has expanded significantly.”2                                                
In other words, during such a time when the event horizon touched the earth, an observer on earth would see light moving toward them from outer space appearing to travel much faster than the speed of light and galaxies would even appear to rotate faster.  But if the observer were in deep space, the light would appear to be traveling at the speed we know today – the speed of light. The differences would be in the different gravitational effects happening either closer or farther away from the center of the bounded universe.
That is Dr. Humphreys’ theory in a nutshell. If you are interested in more details, Dr. Humphreys has written a book, Starlight and Time which explains this theory on a laymen’s level as well as contains his technical papers that depict his equations.
We will draw the conclusions of this subject next week and answer any questions still bothering you about time and the stars. Until then, enjoy your week and don’t forget to star gaze!
God bless,
Willow
In the night skies: “Now that it's mid-October, Deneb has replaced Vega as the zenith star after dark (for sky-watchers at mid-northern latitudes) — and, accordingly, Capricornus is replacing Sagittarius as the most notable constellation low in the south.”3
References:
1,2The Revised And Expanded Answers Book, Ken Ham, et. al., March , pgs 99-100.

                       

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