How Objects Which Don't Exist Fooled Astronomers
Jeff SchmitzObject Computing, Inc.
@iamtheschmitzer
About Astronomy
➲ Study celestial objects➲ Observe electro-magnetic spectrum
Ancient Astronomy
Plato and Aristotle
An ancient viewof the universe
Unchangeable
➲ Beyond the planets, the universe is constant
Perfection
➲ Planets were perfect spheres moving in perfect circles
Comprised of Five Elements
➲ Moon, stars, and planets were made of a fifth element, named aether
➲ The other four were corruptible
Geocentric
➲ Earth in center of universe➲ Questioned, but PROVEN repeatedly
Parallax
Early Modern Astronomy
Copernicus
➲ Observed retrograde planetary motion
Retrograde Motion
Copernican Theory
➲ Earth moves around the sun Explain retrograde motion
➲ Correct
Copernican Model
➲ Sun at center of universe➲ Wrong➲ Planets moving in perfect circles➲ Wrong
(and later) Copernican Principle
➲ The Earth is at no place special in universe➲ There is no place special➲ Maybe
Modern Astronomy
Observing Galaxies
➲ Emissions are sum of emissions from member stars
Active Galaxies
➲ Has emissions which can't be accounted for by stars in galaxy
➲ Emit radio waves (and other wavelengths)➲ Take several forms
One Anomaly
➲ Some active galaxies did not fit the model➲ Emitting enormous amounts of energy➲ Looked like an ordinary star through a
telescope
Powerful, “Small” Energy Sources
➲ 1/1,000,000th size of host galaxy➲ Emits energy of thousands of galaxies➲ Equivalent to
lighting
Los Angeles
A flashlight
Quasars
➲ Named quasi-stellar radio sources➲ ~200,000 identified
Quasars: Extreme Objects
➲ Extremely Bright Luminosity of > 2 trillion suns
Quasars: Extreme Objects
➲ Extremely massive Mass of 1 billion suns 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
Quasars: Extreme Objects
➲ Extremely far away 3+ billion light years away Among the furthest objects ever detected
Exciting, But Troubling
➲ There are no quasars near earth Just a shell around it
➲ Violates Copernican Principle
Except
➲ Quasars don't exist anymore Remnants of the early universe
➲ The shell in which they appear represents their lifetime
Concept known as Event horizon➲ Earlier quasars would have to be further
away for us to be in their event horizon > age of universe
➲ Later quasars would have been closer Not observed – must be after age of quasars
So Quasars DID Exist
➲ A long Time Ago➲ In a galaxy far, far away
@iamtheschmitzer