If we could get far enough away (from…where?), with a powerful enough telescope, would we be able to witness the Big Bang? And if we could get a little farther away (or get there sooner), could we see what preceded it?
Well, apparently yes.
Check out http://www.projectamigo.com and read about their Timescope.
Witness the assassination of JFK, the meteor that supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs, and the last episode of Seinfeld.
No, the universe was opaque for a time after the Big Bang. Also, since every point is “at the center” of the Big Bang", the answer to your sub-question “from…where?” is from everywhere.
Time and space began at the Big Bang. Nothing preceded it.
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Trust the .cgi.
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Or in this case, the .php.
Navigator
The last time I double-posted, OK, the last time I quintuple-posted, TubaDiva said trust the cgi. That was before the upgrade.
You are correct; I should have said trust the .php.
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*Originally posted by DrMatrix *
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While this is true, I’d like to add to it. Mathematically of course there was no time or space before the Big Bang. That’s because absolutely nothing was occuring, and there was absolutely nothing to denote a “here” as opposed to a “there.” There were no vantage points.
Now kicking aside those pesky little laws of physics (annoying buggers aren’t they,) if you sent your wristwatch back in time before the big bang, it would undoubtedly run. This something happening (wristwatch running) would be time. It existing would denote a location (welcome to space.)
You would have started time/space early. This of course would have messed up the Big Bang Contractors’s dinner plans, and since they are union labor this would be a big no-no. Hence the laws of physics. YOU CAN’T DO IT.
Time and space are defined and measured by events and locations. Without events and locations there is no time/space.
The Universe as we know it is an expanding bubble radiating at lightspeed from the Big Bang, Call it a 9 billion light year radius.
The first light that radiated from the BB is pretty close to the circumference of that bubble.
Let’s violate the laws of physics again and go outside that bubble. Nothing is there. Nothing is happening. There is neither time nor space since no energy or matter from the big bang is there. Sound familiar? No time/space.
You can’t get there without violating the laws of physics and travelling faster than light. The cool thing about the laws of physics is that there is no penalty for violating them because they are impossible to break.
Beyond the boundaries of timespace there is no “there” that you could look at the big bang from. There is no “when,” so you can’t make an appointment either. There is no “There” and you couldn’t get “there” if there was.
Even if you could (and you can’t) there wouldn’t be anything to see (or any time to see it in.)
The question is essentially without meaning, but the answer is “NO.”
Dear Mr. Bang,
Have you accepted Jesus as your lord and savior?
[nitpick]
As DrMatrix pointed out, the Big Bang happened everywhere. There is nothing radiating “from” it. The first light was everywhere too. Also, Space is not expanding at light speed…it’s expanding at a rate measured by the Hubble Constant (currently about 65 kilometers per second per megaparsec http://www.hubbleconstant.com/ ). More similar to what you are saying, is that, what we can see (the visible universe) is a sphere expanding at the speed of light (i.e., every year, we can see 1 light year further as more light reaches us from afar). But there is more of the universe beyond what we can see.
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The theoretical limit to the size of timespace is different from what is observed through the Hubble constant. The OP is impossible Because of these theoretical limits, not the Hubble constant.
You are quite correct that the Big Bang was literally Everywhere. Language makes these things dificult to explain. For purposes of the BB Here there and Everywhere are the same thing, and also meaningless.
Oh yeah? Well, I have this theory that you can’t prove anything. Except, I can’t prove it.