Word: light
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...announcement of the exploding universe theory threw all grades of scientists-from semi-mystic philosophers to earthy materialists-into counterattack. Some critics could not believe that the nebulae move at such breakneck speed. Einstein's Relativity (supreme law of physics) says that nothing can move faster than light (186,000 miles per second). But Hubble and Humason have clocked a nebula about 250 million light-years away that seems to be moving at 26,000 miles per second, more than one-eighth the speed of light. They have glimpsed nebulae twice as far away. If the nebulae continue...
...Tired Light. Other critics question the "red shift" as a measure of velocity. The usual explanation of the reddening effect is that the luminous body's motion away from the observer "pulls out" the light waves, making them longer (redder) than normal. But since red light contains less energy per unit (photon) than violet light, Bubble's critics suggest that light may lose some of its energy in traversing space, thus turning redder. It may start out from a distant nebula as young, vigorous violet and arrive at the earth after millions of weary years as old, tired...
...admire their still blind telescope and its lovely setting. Of all the sciences, astronomy is in many respects the pleasantest. There are no dead animals (as in biology) or horrible smells (as in chemistry). Astronomers work on clear-aired mountaintops with clean and beautiful instruments. Their experimental material-light-filters down unbidden out of the cold, dark...
Energy & Neutrons. All of Hubble's colleagues have projects for Palomar Mountain. Dr. Ira Bowen, Director of the Observatory, hopes to analyze the stars with superior spectrographs and find out what nuclear reactions are supplying the energy for their outpouring light. Dr. Bowen is a cautious man, but in the back of his head is a more daring project. No present-day star, he believes, has enough pressure or temperature to form the atoms of the heavier elements. Perhaps, he speculates, they were formed during the genesis of the exploding universe, two billion years or more ago, when...
Hubble's own program for the 200-inch is mainly along two lines. He hopes to clock the speeds of nebulae up to 500 million light-years away, to see if their speed of recession still increases with increasing distance. If it does, his exploding universe theory will be on a firmer footing...