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Back in 1929, Edwin Hubble, the great American astronomer, took the globe by
surprise: While observing the spectrum lines of the light emitted by several
stars he came to the conclusion that these stars were gradually following a
path leading them…far from us. The photographs of the galaxies clearly showed
that the universe expands in space. That was a shock at a time when the universe
was considered to be a determined as well as motionless entity. After all, back
in 1917, the great Einstein had pointed out to a stock-still cosmos in his General
Theory of Relativity. He became convinced about the opposite when he paid a visit
to the Wilson observatory, where Edwin Hubble worked, and caught a glimpse of
these photos.
The “Hubble law” (that gave birth to the Big-Bang theory or the “theory
of the big explosion”) provides the conception of a universe expanding
into space balloon-wise. The further the distance of the location a celestial
body occupies from the heart of the cosmos, the higher the velocity it gains
while moving away from it. Thus, the first question posed had to do with the
rate the universe expands. By accepting the fact that the entire world of ours
set off on its course at zero time from a unique spot in space, then its expansion
should be characterized by a steady pace. Once, in fact, we are in the position
of tracing this rate of expansion, we will be able to know the age of the universe,
we will know in other words exactly when God uttered: “Let there Be Light”.
The discovery of the “Hubble constant” was not an easy case. When
observing different sections of the empyrean, more figures come up. The differences
are huge: they fluctuate between 50 and 100 and as a result the age of the
universe ranges between 20-10 billion years. The aforesaid dissension triggered
one of
the toughest disputes in the world of science. What was said amongst the astronomers
who took part in this conflict could only be equaled to what the people of
the press have been launching against each other with regard to the coverage
of war
conflicts around the world.
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“ There is a bunch of people in this sector of astronomy and each and everyone
of them hates everybody else’s guts”, the Harvard astronomer Mr.
John Hucra had pointed out in his book entitled “Lonely Hearts of the
Cosmos”.
Yet, some time ago, the Hubble telescope, made it to discern 770 stars along
with 18 galaxies being at a 65 million light years distance from the earth.
While working out the rate these celestial bodies had been receding in space,
scientists estimated the “Hubble constant” to be 70. That means
(after a series of mathematical equations) that the universe is 12 billion
years old. This late release of the Hubble team findings has allayed the dispute
for a while, but the conflict is still here. “The Freedman team has studied
galaxies that are just 65 million light years far from the earth,” stated
in the Newsweek magazine the Harvard astronomer, Mr. Robert Kirchner. “Yet,
this is only 10% of the universe. “70” could be just the local
rate of expansion, which differs from the one taking place further away or
the one having happened in the past. But if, as observation of the super-novas
indicates, the rate of expansion has increased recently, then the “Hubble
constant” is below 70.”
THE HUBBLE CONSTANT
A figure, called the “Hubble constant”, was the main cause for
the toughest controversy in the history of astronomy. This figure represents
the rate of expansion of the universe. If, for instance, this constant is “70”,
as indicated by recent measurements, the velocity in which the cosmos expands
every 3.26 light years rises to 70 kilometers per second. The constant above,
constitutes a figure of crucial importance to all sectors of physics, and if
accurately determined, it will come up with the exact date the universe came
into existence, and will provide us with answers to numerous cosmic issues,
like for example whether the universe will ever determine its contraction,
thus resulting to a “space and time disorder”, exactly the way
it was before the Big-Bang. In his classic science fiction novel “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy”, Douglas Adams has a hyper-computer
announce that the secret “of life, of the universe and of all things
is…42”. Could that secret be 70? Given either the addition or subtraction
of a few units, it could…
By Pashos Mandravelis.
email to P. Mandravelis