The Expanding Universe?
Here is a toy model of the Universe. Imagine if we expand it by 5%, and over
overlay the two images, centered on a star near the center of the two
pictures. As you can see, every object appears to have moved away from the object that
we have centered the images on. Furthermore, the farther an object is away from the
center object, the farther it has moved in the expansion. This is exactly what Hubble saw.
Another good part of this explanation is that every one in the Universe sees the same
thing. Here we have centered the two pictures on a different star. From this stars'
perspective everything is moving away from it - it sees exactly the same thing as the
previous star. This is what all good astronomical theories should have. There is no place
in the Universe which is special, and everyone sees exactly the same thing, leaving
astronomy's belief that we are not a special place, intact.
|