The beginning?

[cee-dee]

OK, so "They" say "everything" began with the Big Bang.

Fair enough, it was quite something and happened faster than the blink of an eye?

"They" also say nothing can travel faster than light?

If that's so, how can "They" view light which "began" shortly after the Big Bang?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19728375

We are "here", they're viewing light from a heck of a long way away, such light will have taken billions of years to get here even at approximately 186,000 miles per second.

So how did we get out "here", so far from that light when it was Starlight so long ago?

OK, were we able to get to the source of that light in an instant, we'd find it was probably no longer there but we are billions of miles from where that light was so how come the matter from which our Solar System was formed got sooooo far away from the Stars they're no "seeing"?

[**forum-decorum**]

Thank you Pete,

You are a very nice.

It is clear though I am not really welcome so I say cheerio.

[cee-dee]

Pete, some things are certainly theoretical but others are a fact.

It's a fact that Stars are born, some eventually have Planets, big Stars die with a Super Nova, smaller stars die less dramatically. Those are facts that we can see happening.

It's a fact that certain elements can only exist after a Super Nova and that our Solar System is a product of that.

It's a fact that Galaxies are moving, we can observe the Red shift and also the Blue shift (Andromeda).

We can only theorise (speculate?) about the beginning and the end of the Universe though.

For our own Solar system, we can theorise about it's age and its eventual demise but we know as a fact that certain things have happened. We now know that this Planet was struck by many objects during the Heavy Bombardment but can only theorise as to exactly when that was or what the cause was.

We can only theorise as to whether early life began here from the Primordial Soup or whether the chemicals needed arrived here from "out there" by way of a Comet, Meteorite or Asteroid collision.

As to the Human race..... we can theorise as to whether we're the product of evolution or whether evolution was given a helping hand from some visitors from "out there".

Actual facts on the above two subjects are hard to come by hence theories abound.

[Anonymous]

Hi CD, good post.

I have been reading DR Brian Cox on the wonders of the solar system, and when i read the chapter about Saturn he came up with a very interesting statement.  that the planets Jupiter and Saturn have migrated from a close orbit around the sun to that of where they are now, and in the process moved the planet Neptune's orbit as well. This he say's was how the Late Heavy Bombardment started, as the two giant planets moved through the inner asteroid belt they unleashed havoc within the inner solar system. As yet there is no explination as to why Uranus has an axial tilt of about 90% (degrees), or why one of its main moons is a rehash....ie it has been blown to bits then reformed.

[cee-dee]

I suppose (here comes the hypothetical bit) that if that moon was smashed to bits with sufficient force, the bits could have been molten and with the lack of sufficient gravity from the Planet, the bits might not have been blasted too far allowing their own gravity to pull them back together rather than pull them in to the Planet?

[Anonymous]

Hi CD, well one theory states that the moon was formed when a Mars sized planetoid struck Earth a glancing blow while strill very young. the resulting collision sent material into space forming a ring system such as Saturn has today, but unlike Saturns rings our planetary ring formed the moon.

As a result of the collision between  two planets Earth gained mass, and formed a metalic core, this was to become vital for future life on earth, because this metalic core and the Earths axial rotation gives us our "shield" (Van Allen Belts) against the sun, and allowed the Earth to retain its atmosphere. The Moon is also vital, as it helps to stabilize Earth from wobbling to much, which unchecked would cause extreame seasonal shifts causing havoc with any life trying to gain a foothoold.

[cee-dee]

I was talking about the moon of Uranus about which you posted.

Metals only occur during/after after a Super Nova. Iron is one of the principal metals formed and once that's produced, the end of that Star isn't far off. Our Solar system contains a lot of Iron, therefore it's been formed from the remnants of an ancient Super Nova.

[Anonymous]

Everything that is us, was formed within a super nova, we are star stuff as carl sagen once said.

[cee-dee]

Just lately "they" are saying all the Gold found on this Planet "must have come from Space" via meteorites.

Why so? "They" say that if Gold occurred naturally on the Planet, when the Iron core "sank" (as the Planet cooled), the Gold being a very heavy metal would have sunk to the core too.

So how do they explain the huge deposits of Iron ore that have been and still are mined? Did that amount of Iron in/on the crust also arrive via meteorites?

The meteorites of which "they" speak are those which arrived during the periods of bombardment, the last of which was the Late Heavy Bombardment which, it is theorised, lasted from over 4 billion years ago to (depending who you listen to) just under 3 billion years ago.

There was definitely a period of bombardment but how long it lasted is a matter of argument. I suppose that at that time there wasn't much of an atmosphere in which asteroids/meteorites would have been slowed and/or burned up so most of the impacting debris would have hit the Planet full pelt.

As to whether much Gold arrived that way seems a bit unlikely as seams of Gold are found deep within the Earth. Some deep deposits of minerals could easily have been "swallowed" up by movement of the tectonic plates but it seems a bit far fetched to claim all the Gold mined up to date arrived from "out there"?

[bankhaunter]

Not sure abouit gold but lead and silver are found in what were cracks where matter was forced up from lower down.

In silver and lead mines in Wales mining is done moving upwards following the crack.

[tommy.irene]

 4:57PM, THU 19 SEP 2013

Evidence of life arriving from space could 'revolutionise' biology and evolution

- last updated Thu 19 Sep 2013

• And Finally
• Space

Scientists believe they have found the first evidence of life arriving to Earth from space, which could "completely change our view of biology and evolution".

The team, from the University of Sheffield, made the discovery after sending a balloon high into the stratosphere.

On its return they found organisms that were too large to have originated from Earth.

Professor Milton Wainwright, who led the team, said the results could be revolutionary.

The University of Sheffield of an organism found after a team from the university sent a a balloon high into the stratosphere. Credit: University of Sheffield/PA Wire

[cee-dee]

Well now, here's some interesting information, "they" will have to argue their corner on this one?:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24165219

On the face of it, the rover has shown that the remote sensors which "detected Methane" are way out, thereby casting doubt on all the other information "detected" by remote sensors?

On the other hand, it could just show that the instruments on the rover are not working correctly. You can't have it both ways but you just watch, "they" will find some reasons to "prove" that both the remote sensors and the rover were right.

Reading the news item you can sense the coming kerfuffle and get-out argument?

[cee-dee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10321227/Alien-life-found-living-in-Earths-atmospher...

That's the bloke.

I saw Wainwright on TV and he was speaking about what was discovered and his theory of how that organism got up there as a fact.

The fact is, the organism was found, it may well have been found "up there" but how it got there is NOT a fact.

Also, although he says a volcanic eruption is the only way a particle of the size found could have been taken "up there", can anyone categorically state that such a particle couldn't have been carried up there by any of the rockets launched from Earth? Can anyone categorically state that such a particle could not have been carried up there by natural phenomenon? Unlikely isn't good enough!

I get annoyed by people speaking about theories as facts because when they get repeated often enough, they get taken as a fact. If someone comes along later to disprove it, to start with they face disbelief at best and ridicule at worst.