Evidence for an Expanding Universe with a Finite Beginning 11.16.09
Hubble’s Observations First to show that Universe was expanding How??
Hubble’s Observations Using a standard candle (star of known brightness), Hubble showed that stars are moving away from each other based on their relative brightness Also showed that more distant stars are moving away more quickly than close stars
Cosmic Background Microwave Ratiation Discovered by accident in 1965, background microwave radiation can be detected at uniform (equal) levels throughout the visible universe Importance?
CMBR Continued Big Bang models predicted residual heat throughout the universe Microwaves show residual heat in the very low end of the spectrum Even distribution of heat showed a common source of heat from long ago
Even Distribution of Matter Like the confetti in our class, matter is evenly distributed throughout the universe H, He, and Li are found at expected levels based upon initial events of Big Bang
Color Shift http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/light/dopplershift.swf http://www.7stones.com/Homepage/Publisher/Dopp.html http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/colour/images/electromagnetic-spectrum.jpg http://www.rkm.com.au/ANIMATIONS/animation-Doppler-Effect-Star.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Redshift_blueshift.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Redshift.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Suzredshift.gif
Color Shift Approaching stars appear more blue than expected, due to their shorter wavelenths Receding stars appear more red than expected, due to their longer wavelengths Vast majority of stars in the visible universe are more red than expected - evidence of a still-expanding universe