Consider it solved : Now we know what's at the center of the universe!

Has anyone been to this Facebook page about the City of Peoria?
Here it is...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2201897667

Well...that's probably something they came up with unscientifically, but is there anyone out there who is actually interested in the real science on this question?

Here we have one of the most profound and interesting questions that has been asked for eons -- perhaps the most asked question of all time.......

What is at the center of the entire universe??

Of course we have all read in our textbooks that through most of history up through the last few centuries...it was always believed that the earth is the center of the universe. Now there are, of course, lots of other opinions based on modern data.

I won't bore you with vague opinions but just facts, and then you can answer this question yourself.

First -- let's define "center". There are two things that can lay claim to being the center.....The geometric center and the gravitational the odds of the earth just happening to be right at the center of the universe are astronomically tiny..but read on....maybe things aren't all just being left to chance...

If I had a giant sphere of matter - most spots picked randomly would be closer to one edge of the sphere, and thus what's seen in one direction would extend farther than what's seen in the other direction.

If the spot I pick is near the edge of the sphere, then I would see very little in one direction looking outward from the center and what I see when I look towards the center would appear to far, far more and more distant, right? And certainly some of the other things I would see would be moving towards me and some away from me.

So it is just that simple to determine where earth sits relative to the rest of all the matter, stars, and other objects in all the visible universe. 


So, what's the chance that the point I select randomly will be within 1 or 2% of the precise center of that sphere?
The answer is only about 1-2% - or 1 or 2 in a hundred.
But if there are 10 to the 23rd power different objects in that giant sphere, then it becomes astronomically improbable that any one of them IS actually right at the center.
So.... most people would agree that the odds of the earth just happening to be right at the center of the universe are astronomically tiny..but read on....maybe things aren't all just being left to chance...


And........when observers look in each direction, then the things we see that are the MOST distant are all about exactly the same distance....each direction we look in outer space, we see stuff that's judged to be about 12-13 billion light years away....and everything out there and everything in between are all moving away from us!! Hmmm....that's interesting!


Now --- let's talk just about our galaxy - the Milky Way -- one of billions of galaxies in the universe....
...... we all know that earth is NOT at the center of our own galaxy -- we are a medium distance out toward the edge of one of the spiral arms....

BUT -- it at least appears that to the limits of all of our most advanced and precise scientific and observational equipment -- that the earth is at least CLOSE TO or at the center of the universe.

I am more than willing to concede that some scientists use certain reasons to explain this away and say that it doesn't mean earth IS at the center -- but only that it looks like it is at the center.
One theory some come up with is the theory that the universe is "isotropic" ...something simply made-up to explain the appearance that indeed the earth is at the center!
But -- there are those, like myself, who can easily see that argument simply doesn't hold up....read on...

Even astrophysicists and astronomers when they produce a diagram of all the known objects in space and in our universe..this (below) is what they will show you...and check what's pretty much right in the middle...it's the Milky Way -- and more specifically it is the earth...
http://is.gd/d0NfZf

Simply put -- if the earth was near the real edge of the universe...then we would NOT see things 13 billion light years away when we look away from the center of the universe.....it's as simple as if you look behind yourself from the caboose of a train...I guarantee you will ALWAYS see less train behind you than you will see when you look the other direction ahead of you!!

So -- no matter how some scientists spin it...at least by observational data and science as we know it, earth sure does seem to sit right at the center of the universe...and all scientists agree that everything we see also appears to be moving away from us ....even ALL the most distant objects no matter direction we look. There's really no other way to explain this EXCEPT that we are kinda at the middle!


BUT -- how about gravitational data?? Here's where the really amazing facts fall into place.

Every object -- no matter how big -- has a gravitational center, and all mass in that object and even elsewhere will be drawn by gravity towards the gravitational center.
There are NO exceptions...it's why everyone and everything is drawn to the gravitational center of the earth....and also drawn to the gravitational center of the solar system. (this explains the tides...)

Should NOT we be able to find or measure the pull towards the center of the universe as large as it is??

This is a question that has absolutely stumped or confused scientists forever...and most won't talk about it because they have no answer and are embarrassed by the results they can see).
Obviously the further you are from the center -- the weaker the pull...but consider this....

It is also true that the closer you are to the center -- then sometimes the pull gets weaker as well because when you are at the center -- then all the other mass is further away than you and pulling you back away from the center.

This phenomenon would be true at the center of the earth.
If we could safely go the the gravitational center of the earth....and if there were an open pocket right there, we would float completely weightless, because we'd have nothing that's any closer to the center than we are to pull us in, BUT we'd have all the mass of the earth pulling us out and it would be pulling roughly equally in every direction -- thus making us "weightless".

SO -- you can appear weightless TWO ways -- by being either SO very far from the center of gravity or by being right at the center!!!

Thus if researchers have trouble finding the evidence of any gravitational pull from the rest of the entire universe...it could be because we are far from it and that pull is weak -- or it could be because we are right at the center.
AND -- I propose to offer evidence that we are right at the center..and it is pretty powerful evidence.

Here is that proof -- and everyone else calls it an anomaly -- but in truth -- it is a REAL, provable fact and it is a powerful explanation of where the universe's center is.

If we could send a probe far, far from earth and measure gravitational data...then we'd see this evidence, right?

Well.....guess what.....we HAVE SENT probes far, far from earth....both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 have literally traveled farther than any other man-made object has traveled from earth....they are so far out there that they are actually leaving our solar system.

Have you ever heard of the "Pioneer effect" or the "Pioneer anomaly"??
Check it out yourself.....that when we sent these spacecraft way, way far from earth...then they behave in a manner that WAS NOT previously predicted nor expected by MOST scientists.

They deviate from their expected paths as if some strong yet "unknown" pull is tugging on them and pulling them back towards earth and the sun.

Here is a simplified explanation of the "Pioneer effect"...but note that most people will say that there is NO explanation for this and that nobody knows why it happens...

"The Pioneer anomaly or Pioneer effect is the observed deviation from predicted trajectories and velocities of various unmanned spacecraft visiting the outer solar system, most notably Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11.

Both Pioneer spacecraft are escaping from the solar system, and are slowing down under the influence of the Sun's gravity......however, they were slowing down slightly more than expected. The effect can be modeled as a slight additional acceleration towards the Sun.

The anomaly has no universally accepted explanation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly

Feel free to look it up anywhere else that you choose -- don't just believe me and don't try to argue I have selected a source that agrees with my bias -- because all sources will agree with me on this one.

Hmmmm.... so there it is.....there's all the proof you will ever need of exactly where the precise gravitational center of the universe is....
There IS actually a clear, undeniable, otherwise unexplainable gravitational pull back towards earth (and the sun) on anything that's trying to escape away from earth or out of our solar system.

Note also -- that anywhere you look, scientists come up with a bevy of weird explanations but they avoid like crazy the single most obvious and simple one.
That the gravity that pulls on these objects is MORE than just the gravity produced by the sun and planets.
IT IS the gravity that's produced by all the rest of the mass and matter in all of the universe.

There is actually even a third piece of evidence.....since light waves are also very minimally affected by gravity but we are hard pressed to observe that. BUT if earth were right at the universe's center of gravity, then any effect of the universe's gravitational pull on any light would always be directly towards us, thus we'd be hard-pressed to ever be able to observe any "bending" of the course of light.
BUT if we were well away from the center of the universe -- then we might then be able to measure that all light bends slightly towards that center.
Once we send enough spacecraft way, way out there with the right equipment, then maybe some day we'll see that, too, just like the effect the Pioneer craft see -- which MOST scientists are unwilling to attribute to the obvious explanation.


OK -- so is this really important??

well...some think so and maybe you should, too.

I guess you could just NOT CARE -- that's your right...
or you could blindly accept one of the numerous contradictory theories and reasons some have come up with that attempt to explain away what is pretty convincing evidence!!

BUT -- let's say you DO ACCEPT that the earth is at the exact center of the universe, then are you going to buy some ridiculous spin that it just happened that way? That earth simply lucked out and won the lottery and happens to be right at the precise middle of everything?
Of all the matter in the universe and of all the possible locations we COULD be located at......that we happen to be closer to the exact central point of everything than 99.99999999% of all the matter there is??

Hmmm...that's odd if it is true....it might even have significant spiritual implications...
And if you believe in aliens coming from other planets, then this might even be why so many (supposed and yet unproven) aliens are theorized to be coming to earth and visiting our planet and studying it....
After all -- if there are intelligent beings out there -- wouldn't they want to travel to and study the exact center of the universe?? ;)

If you want to talk about the spiritual implications, then there are a few Bible verses, and even verses from other religions' sacred texts like the Quran that claim that the earth is the center of all creation.

So what exactly is the importance of any of this....?
I think everyone, at some time in their lives, will ask this question and want an answer ...
Don't write to the people who produce that Peoria Facebook page and tell them, but think over this question....

"What is the purpose of all of this (creation), who is responsible, and what is our place in all of this??"

I think there IS an answer to that question...but I know it will NEVER be widely agreed on - certainly not soon.......
but think it over...........


Edit --- after completing the above blog entry on the center of the universe...a well known, well published physics professor pointed out to me that I had actually not even mentioned what he considered the single STRONGEST argument that places earth right at the exact center of the universe!

He rightfully noted that if you check "quantized red shift" and see that there's yet another well known fact among scientists, astronomers, and physicists that argue strongly against the generally held theories of how the universe began and how it currently exists...
http://is.gd/xBxgtZ
http://is.gd/TiPz0z

In fact, unless you adopt a creation mindset -- there is currently NO WAY to reconcile the quantization of the red shift...that everything is moving uniformly away from us -- everything.....thus the "red shift" which is related to the velocity that things are moving away from us....is precisely the same for all objects at the same distance..but the degree of red shift is different at different distances...

This cannot be explained by any concept other than that we are sitting right in the middle of everything -- or that it was simply created that way!!!!
http://is.gd/GQTH7b

Yet even scientists who scoff a the idea of creation or at the idea of us being at the center of the universe...all have to agree that is what it looks like...
that there are concentric shells of matter and light that center on US -- as if we are in the exact center of the entire universe...even though this writer immediately scoffs at that prospect as "impossible"
http://is.gd/S7NVth



Edit -- added later -

After the above blog entry on the center of the universe was posted...a well known, well published physics professor pointed out to me that I had actually not even mentioned what he considers the single STRONGEST argument that places earth right at the exact center of the universe!

He rightfully noted that if you check "quantized red shift" and see that there's yet another well known fact among scientists, astronomers, and physicists that argue strongly against the generally held theories of how the universe began and how it currently exists...

http://is.gd/xBxgtZ

http://is.gd/TiPz0z

In fact, unless you adopt a creation mindset -- there is currently NO WAY to reconcile the quantization of the red shift...that everything is moving uniformly away from us -- everything.....thus the "red shift" which is related to the velocity that things are moving away from us....is precisely the same for all object at the same distance..
This cannot be explained by any concept other than that we are sitting right in the middle of everything -- or that it was simply created that way!!!!

http://is.gd/GQTH7b

Yet even scientists who scoff a the idea of creation or at the idea of us being at the center of the universe...all have to agree that is what it looks like...
that there are concentric shells of matter and light that center on US -- as if we are in the exact center of the entire universe...even though this writer immediately scoffs at that prospect as "impossible"

http://is.gd/S7NVth