[Adjutant Stormy~]

Satan, on 29 May 2012 - 11:23 AM, said:

A buddy of mine's claim to fame is that he's fragged Asia Carrera in Unreal Tournament. What does it say of me that I think that's quite cool?

That's pretty cool. I had a similar, but considerably more obscure and crappier, claim to fame. The head (read: only) developer of this game I used to play (Infantry Online) had a career 0 kills and 2 deaths, of which one was due to me plasma-cannoning him in the face.

This post has been edited by Adjutant Stormy: 30 May 2012 - 06:20 AM

[SylvanShade]

So my mind has been far out in the sky today, and I've come to realize something neat!

Every far-off astronomical object we see in the sky is only visible due to its light-projecting properties. Now the speed of light travels at 1 billion k/h (can't remember the exact figure) so the only reason we can even see those glints of light in the sky is because their light has reached earth's position in the universe.
On the basis of this, we can calculate how old a certain astronomical object is by dividing the speed of light by the object's distance from earth (of course finding such a measurement would be next to impossible with current tech).
And on the axiom that the universe is ever expanding and at this stage very big, we can assume that there is a light-emitting astronomical object at every point in the night sky, the only reason we can't see the majority of those little glints of light is because they are either to far away or too young for their light to have reached us yet. Therefor, I can theorize that a couple trillion years into the future, from our vantage point on earth, the sky will appear to be almost completely lighted up by billions upon billions of far-off stars and suns.

One millennium, the sky might be just one big bright light. It sounds absurd, but light is a constant, it doesn't fade. Once it is discharged from the birth of a star, it travels unerringly through the universe.

Of course, I should take into account the limited dimensions of the human-eye. Our field of vision could be too narrow to even really see the far-off stars whose light has reached our point on earth!

[Satan]

Sadly, that theory runs counter to most of the scientific discoveries made these past few years. With the universe's exponential expansion, the night sky will become darker rather than lighter over the years. I'm terribly sorry if that messes with your acid tripping, but science trumps soul travel most days of the week unfortunately.

[SylvanShade]

I'm not a stupid hippie. I came to that conclusion through reading books on cosmology.

And it would be nice if you would explain why the universe will get darker, instead of being a sarky asshole.

[Loki]

It's cute that someone thinks Satan would do something nice.

[SylvanShade]

fuck this, im not gonna think anymore. seems to really set people off on this site

[Loki]

It's common knowledge that Satan is incapable of being nice. Do as the rest of us do and pay it no mind.

I assume the reason it will get darker is due to the fact that as the Universe expands the distant between stars will become ever greater, reducing the amount of light in the night sky.

[Satan]

The trickster god has the right of it. Not only that, but it would somehow get colder as well. Don't know the science of it (I'm in social sciences, not the proper one), but that's what the tellivishon tells me.

Also, I like it when people think in general. But not when stupid people try to think. That really riles me up.

[Z'ress]

who really cares were all dead anyway.

[Grief]

Actually, sylvan is sort of right, except it's not light (anyone with more science knowledge, feel free to correct me, this is vaguely remembered at best).

Consider the big bang. Why can't we see it? If it hasn't reached us yet, that suggests we've moved away from it faster than the speed of light (I think some models might suggests that the universe did this for a very short period of time but I can't really remember and I don't think there's much agreement anyhow). Has it just gone past us? Seems unlikely - there'd be a lot of the light. Even if not the big bang, let's accept there'd be something we could see anyhow - early stars etc.

You've probably at some point been told that a small portion of TV static is from the big bang. The earth is bombarded constantly by cosmic radiation.

We can't see it as light, iirc, because as the universe expanded the light gets stretched out, into longer wavelength forms of radiation.

Similarly, as it keeps expanding, we get further away from new sources of light, and stop being able to see the old ones.

As for it getting colder, that's called "heat death".

Simply put:

1. Space is infinite.
2. Heat sources are finite.
3. Heat moves from hot to cold.

The theory is that ultimately this means that the universe will tend towards a constant heat throughout (also making energy transfer impossible iirc, thus "death"), and that this will be a very cold temperature.

[Gust Hubb]

Satan, on 30 May 2012 - 10:23 AM, said:

Sadly, that theory runs counter to most of the scientific discoveries made these past few years. With the universe's exponential expansion, the night sky will become darker rather than lighter over the years. I'm terribly sorry if that messes with your acid tripping, but science trumps soul travel most days of the week unfortunately.

Ah, but the real question is, are you genius enough to know if your leg is being pulled or if the scientists are spouting BS. Just cause people say smart things doesn't necessarily make gospel truth. You'll find when you get older that a lot of things you take for granted or beyond your compreshension are discovered with tupperware and scotch tape and are tentative grasps at discovery not certain dogma.

[Gust Hubb]

SylvanShade, on 30 May 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

fuck this, im not gonna think anymore. seems to really set people off on this site

One thing I've learned on this site, btw SS, is the spam comes far faster than the rest of intellectual discourse. And the spam can be affectionate in a snarky, oldtimer way, which is harder to see, but I'm getting there. Not saying Satan is hitting on you, but spam travels faster than the speed of thought.

[QuickTidal]

Okay, the guy eating the other guys face in FLA was gory and probably a bath salted-tweaker gone insane...but...the sheer amount of zombie-type stories this week is kinda freaking me out. Especially the Illinois hazardous waste thing...

http://underthemount...bie-apocalypse/

[Aptorian]

SylvanShade, on 30 May 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

fuck this, im not gonna think anymore. seems to really set people off on this site

I'll tell you a secret about this site. The tone may be hard. People may seem arrogant or ignorant. But everyone values a good discussion. People will question your logic or taste in Transformers movies. That's just how this site runs. Some people will flame you just to get a reaction. That's when you dig in your heels and call their mother a whore. That always works.

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 30 May 2012 - 05:27 PM

[QuickTidal]

Aptorius, on 30 May 2012 - 05:25 PM, said:

SylvanShade, on 30 May 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

fuck this, im not gonna think anymore. seems to really set people off on this site

I'll tell you a secret about this site. The tone may be hard. People may seem arrogant or ignorant. But everyone values a good discussion. People will question your logic or taste in Transformers movies. That's just how this site runs. Some people will flame you just to get a reaction. That's when you dig in your heels and call their mother a whore. That always works.

^^This. And if there is anyone who knows about being on the brunt end of it, it's Apt. I'd listen to him. SOMETIMES he knows what he's talking about.

[worry]

QuickTidal, on 30 May 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

Okay, the guy eating the other guys face in FLA was gory and probably a bath salted-tweaker gone insane...but...the sheer amount of zombie-type stories this week is kinda freaking me out. Especially the Illinois hazardous waste thing...

http://underthemount...bie-apocalypse/

It's starting! Finally!

[SylvanShade]

Satan, on 30 May 2012 - 03:52 PM, said:

Also, I like it when people think in general. But not when stupid people try to think. That really riles me up.

Great work, you managed to insult the intelligence of an 18 year old, and with a considerable amount of wit too!

Ego-boost rep!

[Satan]

To be fair, I didn't really try that hard; it sorta just happened by itself. Well, at least the first comment. The second one I did put some effort into, though oddly it turned out less so for some reason.

[Adjutant Stormy~]

That's all fine and dandy, but I think a factor to consider in this original post, (even ignoring wavelength changes, which is why we see the Cosmic Microwave Background as the fingerprint of the early universe) is that stars have a finite lifetime. And while new stars will become visible, old stars die out. At a comparable rate.

Also, you pretty much can't see anything in the night sky outside of our galaxy except the galaxies in our local supercluster (and then only with a good telescope). To get anything better, you need a legitimate observatory. Light propagation faces the good ol' inverse square law. Intensity diminishes as the square of the distance Intensity ~ 1/r². And distance is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Quote

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.

This post has been edited by Adjutant Stormy: 31 May 2012 - 02:37 AM

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

Stormy's post is good. I was thinking a similar thing, albeit in less flashy language (or more stupid language?), except I had little will to bother articulating said thoughts.

Also, your mother's a whore.