how objects which don't exist fooled astronomers

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