NOVA is probably one of the most consistently interesting shows I have ever watched. Of course they do have some that I am not personally interested in, but they never treat their viewers as if they were simpletons. They move have shows for all age, from those that focus on and teach the basics of a topic, to those that move quickly through a review of the basics and onto more challenging topics. None of them, I must say, come across as talking down to, or over the heads of their audience.
What 'Space' is made of has been a sideline interest of mine for quite a while now....the way I figure it, if nothing existed in it, there would be a constant and unbeatable vacuum all around our planet...this means our planet, and all those millions and billions of stars and their planets couldn't possibly exist. Thus, just as we can't see air (at least in its natural mixture)....there must be stuff we can't see in Space as well, something to account for the lack of pure vacuum.
NOVA has shown me that I am thankfully by no means the only one who thinks this way, nor was I the first. Point towards me....
NOVA's presentation did confuse me at one point though. They spoke of the surprise scientists felt when they found out that the universe is expanding, or speeding up, instead of slowing down as they had thought. There was great points made as to how and why this could be happening, and it occurred to me...all these scientists are talking as if there has been such a great time since The Big Bang, that the universe would have obviously started slowing down by now if it was going to...my question is this...why view the billions of years since The Big Bang as such a LONG time ??? In terms of the lifespan of the universe, billions of years is probably just a blink of an eye...Could it not be that we are still in the expansion phase of The Big Bang, and that the energy that was created during this even simply hasn't expelled enough so as to begin dropping off yet?? These scientists seem to be speaking as fatalists, as if the universe should already be dying...
Even though it has been observed that many stars have died and gone supernova during this time, could it not be possible that the universe will survive as such for a lot longer than they have ever conceived of? That it is, in actuality, still a baby? Still just being born?? Still being expelled from its 'womb'?? Why assume that it has already started to die or that it should be dying/ending anytime within our concept of 'soon'.
