Once Upon a Universe Not-so-Grimm tales of cosmology
"Once upon a time there was no Universe," began the Storyteller. . . ." First Snow White encounters one of the Little People, then one of the Even Smaller People, and finally one of the Truly Infinitesimal People. And no matter how diligent
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ONC E UP ON A UN IVE RSE ,\01-
o-Grimm
tales
ojcosmology
Robert G·lmore
c Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2003 Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc in 2003. Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 2003
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 978-1-4419-3059-0 ISBN 978-1-4757-4165-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-4165-0
Copernicus Books 37 East 7th Street New York, NY 10003 www.copernicusbooks.com Book design and technical illustrations by Jordan Rosenblum Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gilmore, Robert Once upon a universe : not-so-Grimm tales of cosmology / Robert Gilmore. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. I, Cosmology-Popular works.
I. Title.
QB982.G55 2003 523.1-dc22
Manufactured in the United States of America. Printed on acid-free paper.
9 8 7 6 5 432 1 SPIN 10890936
2003062210
I dedicate this book to my wife andjamily, especially the growing new generation.
ac no ledgmen
I wish to thank the Space Telescope Science Institute for permission to use images from the Rubble Space Telescope. These appear in the background of some of my illustrations. One in particular, the galaxy NGC 4414, appears in several pictures. It might be an interesting task for the reader to identify all the instances.
vi
CONTENTS
••••••••• introduction ix
ehe Jil"l tale
THE PRINCE AND P ( I que (for lIlt' nature oJ motion) 1
the econd tale
SNOW WHITE AND THE PARTICULARLY LITTLE PEOPLE (lnto the d ep b(LSem nt qf our wor/d) 41
lhe lhird tale
ALl GORI AND THE CAVE OF NIGHT ( on ide,. llze hefll'en ) 77
Ihe Jourtll lale
JACK AND THE STARSTALK ( pace/ime cmd radi)') 119
lhe Jifth laIe
WAKING BEAUTY (The big bcm aud qft r) 157
lhe 'ixlh lale
CINDERENDA AND THE DEATH OF STARS (Tlze life ((ndfal Qf /ars) 193
epilo{{ue ( 1 'omeu'/wl inconclu iL'c conclusion) 223
225
index 227
introduction
Throughout the ages people have been fascinated by the vision of the night sky. It conveys an impression of remoteness and of eternity. It is clear that we are looking beyond our Earth, but our understanding of wh at we see, of the Cosmos that lies out there, has varied considerably over the centuries. At one time the Cosmos was seen as quite small. It was larger than the Earth, obviously, but it seemed clear that our good stable Earth must be at the center of the Universe, and that the Sun moved about us, together with various planetary wanderers in the sky. Around and enveloping all this celestial activity was the sphere of the fixed stars, which provided a sort of ornamental back drop to the drama of our lives. The notion that the Earth was at the center ofthe Universe was common in most early religious and philosophical views and was clearly required by our own proper self-esteem. Then came
