Hello fello geek and geekesses.

Here is a thought provoking idea I have had for a while now.

Given that relativity is as much about perspective as it is about observational science, what if our measurements about the universe expanding are being understood all the wrong way round?

What if in fact the space between objects is not getting larger but all matter is somehow becoming smaller or space-time is somehow dipping around matter to give the impression of everything else moving away??

Just a thought that's been rolling around my mind for ages now.

All the best,

Korg.

So you're suggesting light travelling from distant stars is "taking the long way around"?

Might be easy to believe if space was foamy and not smooth....

Originally posted by abecedarian
So you're suggesting light travelling from distant stars is "taking the long way around"?

Might be easy to believe if space was foamy and not smooth....

What I'm suggesting is that the observation of an expanding universe could also be viewed as matter shrinking.

But also something to concider also is the clasic model of an expanding universe beiong a baloon being blown up. where stars are drawn spots on the balloon. I'm sure you have seen this description before.

But in this example as the baloon expands so do the dots.

My point is, if Space is indeed expanding then all space should be expanding and matter itself should be becomming less dense.

The other thing to consider is if all space is expanding at the same rate then matter would also be expanding at that rate and we would observe a static universe.

What if......

The universe is shrinking and but at smaller scales space is shrinking faster.... Wouldn't that also look exactly like an expanding universe to observers??

Korg.

Originally posted by Korg Trinity


What I'm suggesting is that the observation of an expanding universe could also be viewed as matter shrinking.

But also something to concider also is the clasic model of an expanding universe beiong a baloon being blown up. where stars are drawn spots on the balloon. I'm sure you have seen this description before.

But in this example as the baloon expands so do the dots.

This analogy is wrong. The galaxies do not expand as internally they are gravitationally bound. A better analogy would be a balloon with small labels sticked to it.

My point is, if Space is indeed expanding then all space should be expanding and matter itself should be becomming less dense.

On a universal scale, yes, matter becomes less dense. On a galaxial scale, no, matter density remains the same (as result of space expanding).

The other thing to consider is if all space is expanding at the same rate then matter would also be expanding at that rate and we would observe a static universe.

What if......

The universe is shrinking and but at smaller scales space is shrinking faster.... Wouldn't that also look exactly like an expanding universe to observers??

Korg.

That is pretty much a case of perspective. From our perspective, the galaxy is expanding. And since our perspective is what matters to us, it is a bit of a useless exercise to imagine what the galaxy would do from the perspective of an imaginary observer.


As for your idea of matter shrinking instead of space expanding, I think it is not a correct perspective, as it would mean that the distance between stars in a galaxy or the distance between the sun and earth would also increase. Which is not the case.