An interesting Doco on cosmology.

[White Rabbit]

Hi Guys

I just finished watching this doco and found it really interesting. I enjoy anything that is thought provoking and that bucks the trend of the generally accepted theories. This ones a ripper, almost like a conspiracy theory in look and feel. It's fairly old now and some of the stuff on dark matter and dark enerygy are out dated, or are they???

Anyway if you havent seen it have look, it's sure to make you question a few things.

Sandy

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=cosmology+quest&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

[Argonavis]

I don't usually watch documentaries, as they simplify and distort, as well as being slow and boring.

But I did watch some of this stuff, and it appears to be nonsense.

That the Universe is expanding is almost incontrovertible, as is the big bang origin of the Universe. The expansion of the Universe rests on several pillars of solid evidence, as does the origin of the Universe in a "cosmic fireball". There are simply no other hypotheses that explain the observations.

The unknown nature of dark energy and dark matter has no bearing on this.

Quoting a few iconoclasts, as in these videos, does not change this.

For example, these videos feature Halton Arp. His view that the redshifts of quasars is not due to cosmic expansion would be accepted by almost no other astrophysicist, and there is little evidence to support it. The luminous bridges that appear to connect some individual galaxies with quasars having widely different redshifts are now considered to be an imaging artefact. That leaves some statistical evidence that Arp quotes in his favour (not in the video but in the literature). This evidence, like most statistical arguments, is subjective.

What the video does not include is the evidence in favour of redshifts being indicative of the expansion of the Universe. We can see this by fainter objects having higher redshifts, and higher redshift galaxies looking younger, undergoing more interactions, and have higher rates of central core activity consistent with a younger Universe.

I notice that John Dobson is also featured. He believes in mystic nonsense and is not an authority on astronomy.

If you are interested in videos, there are quite a few good ones around. I especially liked Origins by Neil Degrasse Tyson. The book is highly recommended too.

[Astro78]

Hi Sandy,

The open mind would find this interesting, thanks for posting. Although not enough for me to lean towards Arp's views I enjoyed this.

All the best scientists up until the modern era were "Iconoclasts" btw. I suggest any derogatory use of the word highlights an old problem with our society, one that's perhaps still prevalent today.