I really enjoy the topic and find it fascinating. I really like watching Brian Cox too and there is an interesting channel he has where he talks about the subject.
what really boggles my mind is when you think about the vastness of space. Where does it end? Or does it? Why? I ponder these things often. I recently bought a Dobsonian 8” telescope too.
what’s something that really makes you stop and think when talking about this subject?
I'm not sure how valid a theory/representation it is or where I even heard it, but I remember a description of space being like the surface of a balloon. From a 2 dimensional perspective there is no edge. You can take any point on the balloon, pick a direction, and you'll eventually travel back to the same point.
So for 3 dimensional space, you could start anywhere, pick a direction to travel, and eventually could end up back in the same place you started.
It also works to visualise the expansion of the universe. You can inflate the balloon and the points get further away. From a 2 dimensional perspective, it's not expanding into anything. It's only when you add the 3rd dimension that becomes apparent.
I always think about redshift in the way that you said about the balloon.
and that is interesting what you said about 2 Dimensional space, only being able to travel on the x or y axis, being no z, because it is 2D space. No edge, which way that you walk, in a straight line, you end up back in the same place.
but we are stuck, as humans, in this current period of time, with figuring out what it means to be in 3 Dimensional space.
Black holes are so interesting to learn about, and you can think about these ideas when learning and putting thought into what a black hole is (just don’t think about it too much because you will not be able to escape the event horizon).
Something which can be so dense that it becomes not only something which warps space and time, but still after years of thinking about them, along with so many things, we are unable to comprehend at what scale we are dealing with.
I always think about redshift in the way that you said about the balloon.
and that is interesting what you said about 2 Dimensional space, only being able to travel on the x or y axis, being no z, because it is 2D space. No edge, which way that you walk, in a straight line, you end up back in the same place.
but we are stuck, as humans, in this current period of time, with figuring out what it means to be in 3 Dimensional space.
Black holes are so interesting to learn about, and you can think about these ideas when learning and putting thought into what a black hole is (just don’t think about it too much because you will not be able to escape the event horizon).
Something which can be so dense that it becomes not only something which warps space and time, but still after years of thinking about them, along with so many things, we are unable to comprehend at what scale we are dealing with.
