M
mich2
Guest
Eventhough we believe the universe is expanding, the belief is still that it is a closed one, meaning that a gravitational centre need to exist, somewhere. If such a centre does exist, the motion of the universe as a whole would need to be influenced by such a centre.why should it stand to reason that the universe orbits a central point? i can think of any reason that it should.
How would you respond to the following statements:false
Cosmologist George Ellis in Scientific American:
"People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations," Ellis argues. “For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations.” Ellis has published a paper on this. "You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that."
As stated by Max Born in his famous book,“Einstein’s Theory of Relativity”,Dover Publications,1962, pgs 344 & 345:
:"…Thus we may return to Ptolemy’s point of view of a ‘motionless earth’…One has to show that the transformed metric can be regarded as produced according to Einstein’s field equations, by distant rotating masses. This has been done by Thirring. He calculated a field due to a rotating, hollow, thick-walled sphere and proved that inside the cavity it behaved as though there were centrifugal and other inertial forces usually attributed to absolute space.
**Stephen W. Hawking **
**“Now at first sight, all this evidence that the universe looks the same whichever direction we look in might seem to suggest there is something special about our place in the universe. In particular, it might seem that if we observe all other galaxies to be moving away from us, then we must be at the center of the universe. There is, however, an alternative explanation: the universe might look the same in every direction as seen from any other galaxy too. This, we have seen, was Friedmann’s second assumption. We have no scientific evidence for, or against, this assumption. We believe it only on grounds of modesty: it would be most remarkable if the universe looked the same in every direction around us, but not around other points in the universe!” - A Brief History of Time: Tenth Anniversary Edition, p. 44 **
The reason why I wrote this was because you had written that the Church is not infallible when dealing with scientific teaching…I have no problems with this; I never claimed my personal belief was due to the infallible teaching of the Church regarding this issue; as to why I personally accept this position, it is mearly a matter of viewing things differently. I tend to view those who uphold the heliocentric view as being just as dogmatic as some of the clergy in the middle ages who held geocentrism as a dogmatic physical truth.i didn’t quote you, why do you think i am mistaking you for someone else? further, why would you want to hold an obviously false position, even just personally, how does that benefit you?
But why did they need to “re-investigate” the whole Galileo issue if it was so clear as to why the Church was in error?the fact is they said it was a mistake, timing doesnt matter, you either believe the Churchs authority or you dont.
I respect your argument, but I personally don’t accept this as proof of a heliocentric solar sytem, even less a heliocentric universe, as was claimed by Galileo.sure i posted the pictures. observational evidence from outside the solar frame of reference.
From what I’ve read, the only proposition that was condemned as being heretical was heliocentrism…that is, the sun being static…which is indeed a false assumption.they attempted to speak infallibly on a matter of science, that was the mistake.
That was the whole Galileo issue…by claiming the movement of the earth as being absolute, an absolute frame of reference was needed…not as a model, but a reality…he chose the sun…he was wrong.the sun being static is a red herring, it has nothing to do with geocentrism at all. it could be doing the box waltz, and that would still not change that geocentrism is false. we are interested in the relationships between the planet and its sun. not between the sun and the galactic center.
Andre