Scientist can look millions of years in past... But what about the future?

That was my original question to consider. I wondered why I always hear about the Hubble Telescope looking millions of years in the past, but never in the future. I am not ignorant to science, so I thought it odd that it never came up in my research.

So I started to research the question. I was prepared for the insufficient technology answer. But to me, the future should be just as important to learn about, if not more. Why would we not dump billions into figuring that out?

After searching the internet for a few minutes (and countless wrong key words) I found this.

Astronomers are used to looking millions of years into the past. Now scientists have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to look thousands of years into the future. Looking at the heart of Omega Centauri, a globular cluster in the Milky Way, they have calculated how the stars there will move over the next 10 000 years.

The globular star cluster Omega Centauri has caught the attention of sky watchers ever since the early astronomer Ptolemy first catalogued it 2000 years ago. Ptolemy thought Omega Centauri was a single star and probably wouldn’t have imagined that his “star” was actually a beehive swarm of nearly 10 million stars, all orbiting a common centre of gravity.

The stars are so tightly crammed together in the cluster that astronomers had to wait for the Hubble Space Telescope before they could look deep into the core of the “beehive” and resolve the individual stars. Hubble’s vision is so sharp that it can even measure the motion of many of these stars, and over a relatively short span of time.

A precise measurement of star motions in giant clusters can yield insights into how such stellar groupings formed in the early Universe, and whether an intermediate-mass black hole, one roughly 10 000 times as massive as our Sun, might be lurking among the stars.

Analysing archived images taken over a four-year period by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, astronomers have made the most accurate measurements yet of the motions of more than 100 000 cluster inhabitants, the largest survey to date to study the movement of stars in any cluster.

Not much there. A bit. But not the answer to my final question... Why do we not look to the future with more urgency?

I mean what are we afraid of seeing? Besides our future selves...

Link

AAC

We look into the past because it's possible, looking into the future isn't possible. Starlight travels at a finite speed (speed of light). Depending on how far away a star is, it takes awhile for light from that star to reach our eyes. Therefore, when we look at stars in the night sky, we are looking at them as how they were when they first emitted the light that reached our eyes (ie 7 years ago, if the star is 7 light years away from us). It is possible that same star could have undergone a supernova in those 7 years, however we will not know about the supernova until 7 years to the day of the supernova passes.

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


The past is an observable thing. The future isn't. I know all I need to know about the future already. The sun will explode one day. We have to find a way to get over our petty differences and work together to get the hell out of here before then. If not, everything we have ever done......all of human history is absolutely pointless.

AnAbsoluteCreation
I am not ignorant to science, so I thought it odd that it never came up in my research.

How can you look at something that has not happened yet... also your actions will "change" the future, so even if you could see it, there would be changes by the time you got there.

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


Looking at advanced galaxies - ones that are similar yet have had suns go supernova can likely tell them a lot - if they can somehow see how they changed overtime. Studying many galaxies and solar systems within, of differing ages would help because they would be able to see what influences take various solar systems to the brink of death. Even if we are seeing it afterwards it can be our future (just like we know our sun will die one day).

If only we could find more earths - and then look at those that are 1-2 million years older than us. How would it be the same or different? This could help us see one possible future (all variables considered). Sort of like a wise great grandparent showing us what we could become. I know they can date things out there so I bet we learn loads more in the years to come.

Pardon my question, but objects of light reflect in all directions, so why could we not look forward?

Which direction in space is the future?

I'll admit, this subject had obviously alluded me thus far, so if my question seems short-sighted, I do apologize.

And didn't the link I poet mention seeing the future?

If we are traveling in space, where is the front of the line?

AAC

reply to post by hellobruce


So you're saying we are the tip of the present, celestially?

AAC

a cook can see into the future further then a scientist can...
in about two hours ...
a cake will appear in this magic box...

AnAbsoluteCreation
Pardon my question, but objects of light reflect in all directions, so why could we not look forward?

Because when we are looking at a star or galaxy that's say 12 million light years away for a random example, We are seeing the light and therefore the image that left this stellar object 12 million years ago. Our ability to see light is bound by the constant speed of light in the near vacuum of space. We can't see into the future because that light has yet to leave its source.

Which direction in space is the future?

Time isn't a direction so the context you're looking for isn't applicable.

I'll admit, this subject had obviously alluded me thus far, so if my question seems short-sighted, I do apologize.

And didn't the link I poet mention seeing the future?

It may have given you the impression that they were peering into the future but what it was really talking about was our ability to plot the precession of the stars in that particular galaxy and know where their positions will be in the future. Knowing where a stellar object will be isn't the same as being able to observe it before it gets there.

If we are traveling in space, where is the front of the line?

AAC

edit on 6-3-2014 by AnAbsoluteCreation because: (no reason given)

That depends on what aspect of physics and cosmology you subscribe too. Most people working in these fields are in agreement that the universe is expanding so the "front line" is always moving away from us from our perspective.

AnAbsoluteCreation
but objects of light reflect in all directions, so why could we not look forward?

How could you?

Which direction in space is the future?

second to the right, and straight on till morning

If we are traveling in space, where is the front of the line?

What line? There are many.

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation

Pardon my question, but objects of light reflect in all directions, so why could we not look forward?

Which direction in space is the future?

The only reason we can "look into the past" is because light from distant objects takes a very long time to reach us. So we're able to see the universe as it existed many millions of years ago by observing the light that travels to us from the far reaches of space. I really don't even understand what you are trying to ask here... the stupidity of the question just boggles my mind to be honest. There is no direction in space which is the future, I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean... your understanding of how the universe works couldn't possibly be more wrong.

The future is undetermined, kind of like an interference pattern in quantum physics, the possibilities are all there. I guess if we knew every variables in the system we could calculate the future.

"the stupidity of the question just boggles my mind to be honest."

The STUPID questions are the ones never asked.
Never ever stop asking questions AAC

reply to post by Holographicmeat




Spot on. If you don't know or don't understand something it's never a stupid idea to ask. Remaining purposefully ignorant is the stupid move. Just because something seems obvious or elementary to one person doesn't mean that everyone else has had the same educational opportunities and in the case of a board like ATS, you can't always know which country they call home or even their age.

reply to post by peter vlar


I don't get it. You agree with what I said? Is your comment directed at me?

((Just noticed your edit, my apologies.))

reply to post by MrMaybeNot

regarding my last post I apologize. Browsing on my iPad and hit reply on your post by mistake then went back and edited it to fix the error. Fr what it's worth, I do agree with what you wrote!

Here's where my mind is still curious.

If the Big Bang was true, and an explosion blasted out of a small dense dot, and sent matter bursting into space, wouldn't some parts of the matter be ahead of others in the blast? If so, then why could we not look ahead to some of the matter that blasted out first?

This is almost twilight zone type of misunderstanding on my part. I am otherwise familiar with so many theories about the universe or universes yet this true answer alludes me.

I appreciate your answers, mainly the ones without the condescending nature, but your answers are not quite enough to bed down my curiosity. Please elaborate.

And yes I realize how light travels and the science behind seeing things when their light reaches us. No need to educate me there, stick to the main question please.

AAC

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


You drop a glass of water, the glass shatters into many pieces. Are some of these pieces in the future relative to the other pieces? So why would you expect some products of the big bang to be in the future relative to other products?

AnAbsoluteCreation
Here's where my mind is still curious.

If the Big Bang was true, and an explosion blasted out of a small dense dot, and sent matter bursting into space, wouldn't some parts of the matter be ahead of others in the blast? If so, then why could we not look ahead to some of the matter that blasted out first?

This is almost twilight zone type of misunderstanding on my part. I am otherwise familiar with so many theories about the universe or universes yet this true answer alludes me.

I appreciate your answers, mainly the ones without the condescending nature, but your answers are not quite enough to bed down my curiosity. Please elaborate.

And yes I realize how light travels and the science behind seeing things when their light reaches us. No need to educate me there, stick to the main question please.

AAC

edit on 6-3-2014 by AnAbsoluteCreation because: (no reason given)

Those other pieces would just be in a different location. Not in a different time....I think.

reply to post by Pistoche


Great analogy. I guess I didn't see the Big Bang splattering against the concrete wall with the pieces going in opposition directions. We are traveling in the suns orbit whilst the sun travels through the galaxy. I assume the galaxy is also traveling somewhere. What direction is it traveling? If everything exploded into a brick wall, and everything was traveling in a direction, something has to give or you travel back in the direction You already came.

Again, I'm being honest because it looks like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle that's obviously not spoken about much.

Thanks for the reply.

AAC