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Re: Redshift: A Hypothetical Question
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neutralino
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Re: Redshift: A Hypothetical Question - 11-25-2007, 07:59 PM

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Originally Posted by Profpat View Post
I understand that they say there is no center Neutralino, But why not? Given the universe has mass why wouldn't there be a center of gravity. I understand it would forever be changing from frame of reference to frame of reference, but logically I would still think there should be one.

Please help.

Pat
The short answer is that if the universe had a centre, then it would violate the cosmological principle. The cosmological principle basically says that we do not live in a special place in the universe; i.e. everywhere else is pretty much the same as where we are. If this didn't hold, then we wouldn't really be able to do cosmology, since the topology of the spacetime could be vastly different here than the rest of the universe. So, we say that the cosmological principle holds. There is, of course, vast evidence for this. See here for a fuller discussion.

And, thanks for your congratulations! It's the members that I should be thanking, though, for the interesting posts I've seen to respond to!


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If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day - John A. Wheeler.

Last edited by neutralino : 11-25-2007 at 08:02 PM. Reason: respond to ps
  
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