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KAF Sky Gazer
Reflections on phenomenon in the world of Astronomy.
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What is Space?
Back in the days of Isaac Newton a scientific debate arose about Space. Did it really exist by it self, or was Space just a phenomenon due to the void between the heavenly bodies? One of the protagonists of that time, "relationist" and philosopher Leibniz, apparently put forward the idea that empty Space did not exists by it self. It could only be experienced through the existence of stars and planets and their relative position to each other. Newton held another point of view. Space did really exist! Centuries later, Einstein came along, as we all know, to introduce the concept of the space-time, but...
Could Space and our Universe be two different things?
Suppose there is "more" to Space than meets the eye? Suppose the Universe does not equal Space. Let me explain:
To me, and possibly to many others, Space and the Universe have usually represented the same thing. This is also the most common interpretation put forward in education, in many books and on TV. Where Space is, and possibly ends according to some theories, there the Universe is and ends too. Or so I used to think until I came up with this odd idea a while ago.
Suppose Space - totally empty and devoid Space - is not quite something that exists, but merely a state characterized by the absence of everything, including matter. Then, could it not as well be that empty space is omnipresent and thus “infinite“? From a philosophical perspective, would it not make sense if empty Space were the natural initial state for everything, as a nothing, nought, in fact the non-existence?
This Space, as a state of non-existence, would solve the age-old question about what "exists" beyond the Universe, namely nothing. And it was in this Nothing that “Something” was born through the Big-Bang 14 billion years ago; a something we have later chosen to call our Universe. And in this Space the Universe, or possibly many other Universes, could be sailing along like islands in a black void.
The measurable Universe?
We know that the age of our Universe is 14 billion years or more. We have deducted this by analyzing light off distant galaxies, quasars, star clusters and other objects. In other words, we have measured the distribution of matter around our selves.
What abort studies of empty Space itself? How can we possibly measure empty Space itself?
ARCHIVE
A list of links to previous articles here at the KAF Sky Gazer. Unfortunately only in Swedish so far.
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