Voyager says Goodbye

[doversoul1]

As I ponder getting our car repaired (following a mishap involving other half's driving), I hear that the Voyager spacecraft launched 35 years ago and now 11 billion miles from the Earth and hurtling ever further away at a rate of 10 miles per second is about to leave the Solar System. The "Pale Blue Dot" photo it took of our planet helps to put the annoyances of daily life into perspective.

Bon Voyage, Voyager. You are our link to the actuality of infinity. Boldly go… Best wishes.

[MrGongGong]

and not the rather crazy film that people rave about, and then say how marvellous it is, because they can't understand it. .

Oh come on, it's very easy to understand

the "message" of the film is how brilliant Ligeti's music is

[Roehre]

...One then wonders if it's an alternating cycle of big bangs and contractions.

Or whether our universe is the only one in such a cycle (if it IS a cycle, that depends obviously whether there is enough black matter to stop expansion and start contraction)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Oh come on, it's very easy to understand

the "message" of the film is how brilliant Ligeti's music is

I definitely agree about the Ligeti, but although I love the Blue Danube, it seems strangely inappropriate.

However, the jump cuts in the film seem to deliberately snarl up understanding - swhereas the book gives the sense of awe and wonder without throwing old prams in the way.

[MrGongGong]

I definitely agree about the Ligeti, but although I love the Blue Danube, it seems strangely inappropriate.

However, the jump cuts in the film seem to deliberately snarl up understanding.

I think that's part of what one needs to understand

[BBMmk2]

Sorry Jobathan, Alpha Centauri is the nearest star That picture certainly puts our lonely planet in a very particular place in the vast universe that we live in

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sorry Jobathan, Alpha Centauri is the nearest star That picture certainly puts our lonely planet in a very particular place in the vast universe that we live in

Well, strictly speaking, it's the Sun - but it has been a rainy Summer!

Alpha Centauri is a triple star complex, consisting of Proxima Centauri and Centauri A & B. It's closer (to us) than the latter two by about a tenth of a Light Year.

[BBMmk2]

Well, strictly speaking, it's the Sun - but it has been a rainy Summer!

Alpha Centauri is a triple star complex, consisting of Proxima Centauri and Centauri A & B. It's closer (to us) than the latter two by about a tenth of a Light Year.

Ah thank you Ferney, m yastronomy knoweledge is far less thasn yours!!

[Resurrection Man]

Now imagine that our Universe was actually inside a grain of sand on some other larger Universe's seashore...........

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Now imagine that our Universe was actually inside a grain of sand on some other larger Universe's seashore...........

Yes, I've often thought that - or perhaps in something much nastier.

[anotherbob]

One of the fascinating things about the Voyager missions was the confirmation of many of the hypotheses of Arthur C. Clarke in his book 2001 - A Space Odyssey. N.B. I do mean the book, and not the rather crazy film that people rave about, and then say how marvellous it is, because they can't understand it. The book makes it all perfectly clear and is the better for it.

I saw the film at the Odeon, Manchester on first release. I raved about it then and still do. I had an idea what it was about having already read Clarke's short story "The Sentinel".

[vinteuil]

Now imagine that our Universe was actually inside a grain of sand on some other larger Universe's seashore...........

"In all Things, all Things service do to all:
And thus a Sand is Endless, though most small.
And every Thing is truly Infinite,
In its Relation deep and exquisite."

Thomas Traherne [1636-1674] Christian Ethics


“You never enjoy the world aright, till you see how a sand exhibitith the wisdom and power of God”

Thomas Traherne Centuries 1. 27

"Suppose a river, or a drop of water, an apple or a sand, an ear of corn or an herb: God knoweth infinite excellencies in it more than we: He seeth how it relateth to angels and men; how it proceedeth from the most perfect Lover to the most perfectly Beloved; how it representeth all his attributes; how it conduceth in its place, by the best of means to the best of ends: and for this cause it cannot be beloved too much."

Thomas Traherne Centuries 2. 67

[Pabmusic]

I'm not sure that is the prevailing scientific thought, a few decades on. The rate at which it is expanding is observably decreasing. Eventually the expansion will grind to a halt and, due to the gravitational attraction between objects (which was always there but overpowered by the Big Bang explosion), there will supposedly eventually be an accelerating contraction of all matter to a single mass.

One then wonders if it's an alternating cycle of big bangs and contractions.

That's old hat now - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371 Things change so quickly (almost as quick as the universe expands). After the genuinely shocking discovery that won this Nobel prize, it looks as though the universe will continue to expand, speeding up as it does so, until Earth will be so distant from anything else that we can no longer see any stars. Of course, there still might be a multiverse, of which we are in just one universe of many.

[agingjb]

I'm not sure that is the prevailing scientific thought, a few decades on.

The rate at which it is expanding is observably decreasing. Eventually the expansion will grind to a halt and, due to the gravitational attraction between objects (which was always there but overpowered by the Big Bang explosion), there will supposedly eventually be an accelerating contraction of all matter to a single mass.

One then wonders if it's an alternating cycle of big bangs and contractions.

Unless someone has heard differently, the last I heard was that the expansion is accelerating; I'd be interested to know of a later reference.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I saw the film at the Odeon, Manchester on first release. I raved about it then and still do. I had an idea what it was about having already read Clarke's short story "The Sentinel".

Wow! I saw it there too, though probably not on the same day - screenings sometimes went on for months.