Red Dots.
Speaking soon to Evalyn Gates, author, "Einstein's Telescrope," re the spectacular Hubble image of the cosmos at 600 million years old, showing galaxies about as early as they could possibly form. Our sun, and therefore our planet and flora and fauna (us) are made up of elements cooking in early galaxies much like these -- elements that were redistributed to form our galaxy about 10 billion years ago and our solar system about 4 billion years ago. Examine the deep field closely. The oldest galaxies are the small red dots, because, being farthest from us, about 13 billion light years, they are the extreme red-shift in the infrared camera shot from Hubble. We cannot see the ancient galaxies who birthed us, because they are behind us (relatively); but Evalyn Gates tells me that the Edens with us out there about ten billion years looking back at us with their Hubble could see our proto-galaxies. What we can see in these tiny red dots is the cooling of the big bang, and with the cooling came the creation of stars into galaxes into clusters of galaxies. Evalyn Gates tells me that we may not be able to see back much farther the the 600 million year mark.
Goldilocks Galaxy.
NGC 6872 and IC 4970
Evalyn Gates also told me that the early universe was very hot with the exploding and re-exploding supernova that would blow asunder the dust clouds that were forming galaxies such as our Milky Way. This is the violent cosmos problem. A new theory is that our Milky Way was protected from these supernova waves by dark matter that acted like a blanket and shielded out the cascading gas jets of explosions. Evalyn Gates tells me that we are a product of a not-too-hot and not-too-cold part of the cosmos, like Goldilocks. The cosmos is a violent process. Our Milky Way is just right, and it has consumed lesser galaxies as it moved through our part of the cosmos. When galaxies collide, one galaxy can strip fuel from the other to feeds it super black hole center. See below as NGC 6872 and IC 4970 collide, and the smaller 4970 strips material form the larger 6872. Any and all star systems in the galaxies are now being drained as Dracula drains a victim. Violent place. How do we leave a record that we have understood what will transform us into dust and gas?
Talking here about billions (of light-years), it strikes me that our politicians have already comfortably surpassed the galactic scale. They now routinely talk in terms of trillions (in debt and spending). Our government is currently considering a nearly $2 trillion rise in the debt ceiling. This would bring our total debt into the 14 trillion range.
Numbers like this blunt understanding. Once we have come this far, a trillion trillion can no longer be thought of as unthinkable. In fact, everything money (debt) can buy is now possible: free healthcare for all; balmy breezes for all; food for all; chickens for all; housing for all; peace for all; immortality for all; the lions lying down with the lambs; etc.
As long as we can write it down on paper, it now becomes possible for those prepared to willingly take Kierkegaasrd’s leap of faith into Obama's 'Neverland Ranch' - Kurtz's 'heart of darkness' – burn the bridges and thrown away the key.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
Historians will look at the USA similar to the Roman Empire: We conquered evil dictators several times while Europe and the rest of the world dawdled, Put a man on the moon, built incredible medical, education, and research institutions, Large Civilian-managed Navies and Armies, NASA's great telescopes (Hubble, Spitzer, etc) program, elected a minority President, and peacefully transferred power from one ruling party to another 20 times (or more).
May you live in interesting times....indeed!