[Conan]

Cassini's Death Dive into Saturn Reveals Weird Ring 'Rain' & Other Surprises

We are living in what can only be described as a truly "Golden Age" of astronomy, as more and more is revealed about the universe God created, via powerful telescopes both on earth and in space (such as the Hubble, and in a couple of years, the VERY exciting James Webb telescope to be placed at one of the Lagrange points, far away from all the EM interferrance from our planet).  What is being revealed is an incredibly dynamic, endlessly changing and constantly surprising universe that is shattering all our preconceptions and forcing us to drastically reconsider both the nature of our vast universe, and our own place in it.  The article below is a prime example: the Cassini probe, which was sent out to explore Saturn and a few of its 80+ moons, has produced a veritable MOUNTAIN of data about the second largest planet in our solar system, which is yielding some completely unexpected surprises, as scientists begin to delve into this torrent of information sent back by one of the most successful interplanetary probes ever.

QUESTIONS: 1) Does the overwhelming evidence that the universe is a) vast beyond our comprehension and possibly even infinite (we can see objects many billions of light years away, but cannot see beyond the point where the universe as a whole is expanding faster than the speed of light, which limits our possible knowledge, but also explains among other things, why the night sky is black!), and b) in constant change of many kinds, including motions we can see happening in real time, some of them with just backyard telescopes... does this evidence contradict the "standard" model of the universe that many flat-earthers claim to believe - that the stars, nebulae, globular clusters, galaxies, galaxy clusters, etc. are embedded in a sort of dome or "firmament" which covers the earth - a structure which can only be a few thousand miles high at the most?  and 2) If not, why is our planet flat while every other heavenly body we've ever seen, is either spherical or at the very least very much 3 dimensional: nothing else we've ever seen is "flat" in any meaningful sense of the word.

https://www.space.com/42022-cassini-saturn-finale-ring-rain-surprises.html?_ga=2.53404843.2080060845.1553311603-186845299.1553311602

[QED]

Cassini's Death Dive into Saturn Reveals Weird Ring 'Rain' & Other Surprises

We are living in what can only be described as a truly "Golden Age" of astronomy, as more and more is revealed about the universe God created, via powerful telescopes both on earth and in space (such as the Hubble, and in a couple of years, the VERY exciting James Webb telescope to be placed at one of the Lagrange points, far away from all the EM interferrance from our planet).  What is being revealed is an incredibly dynamic, endlessly changing and constantly surprising universe that is shattering all our preconceptions and forcing us to drastically reconsider both the nature of our vast universe, and our own place in it.  The article below is a prime example: the Cassini probe, which was sent out to explore Saturn and a few of its 80+ moons, has produced a veritable MOUNTAIN of data about the second largest planet in our solar system, which is yielding some completely unexpected surprises, as scientists begin to delve into this torrent of information sent back by one of the most successful interplanetary probes ever.

QUESTIONS: 1) Does the overwhelming evidence that the universe is a) vast beyond our comprehension and possibly even infinite (we can see objects many billions of light years away, but cannot see beyond the point where the universe as a whole is expanding faster than the speed of light, which limits our possible knowledge, but also explains among other things, why the night sky is black!), and b) in constant change of many kinds, including motions we can see happening in real time, some of them with just backyard telescopes... does this evidence contradict the "standard" model of the universe that many flat-earthers claim to believe - that the stars, nebulae, globular clusters, galaxies, galaxy clusters, etc. are embedded in a sort of dome or "firmament" which covers the earth - a structure which can only be a few thousand miles high at the most?  and 2) If not, why is our planet flat while every other heavenly body we've ever seen, is either spherical or at the very least very much 3 dimensional: nothing else we've ever seen is "flat" in any meaningful sense of the word.

https://www.space.com/42022-cassini-saturn-finale-ring-rain-surprises.html?_ga=2.53404843.2080060845.1553311603-186845299.1553311602

Nothing? Are you certain? The best measurements of the Universe’s geometry indicate that it is flat. This is why you (probably read somewhere and regurgitated) stated that is it probably infinite. K=0 means an infinite Universe. So you’re saying that this golden age can claim the entire universe is flat, but you think a FE impossible. Odd.

Do you happen to know what a largrange point is? What is the benefit of putting Webb there? And why did they choose that specific one? There are, after all, many to choose from. How many was that, again?

[Conan]

Happy to hear from at least one person around here!!  The ultimate shape of the universe itself is still up in the air, if i may make a poor pun... but so far, no flat objects have been found in it, to my knowledge.  Not sure why you would hazard that i am "regurgitating" stuff - i've been interested in astronomy since i was 7, and have viewed the moon and 4 or 5 planets through telescopes of various sizes - they are most definitely spherical and have rings and moons and such around them: this is easy to see using even a backyard telescope.

The Lagrange points are places where the gravitation forces of the sun and the earth interract to enhance orbital stability - the math is a bit complex but it it this extra stability that makes them ideal for placing satellites: if you place a satellite there, it will stay put and not go wandering off.  They are not that close to the earth - the one that the Webb telescope is being sent to, is about 1.6 million km way: about 1% of the distance to the sun.  There are actually several satellites at Lagrange points now, such as SOHO - a solar observation platform that has also discovered over 3,000 comets.  You can easily see SOHO and other satellites at the L! Legrange position, with a decent telescope, and it is VERY easy for anyone to measure how far away it is, using parallax.

[QED]

Well, it is still up in the air the same way every scientific claim is - since all scientific beliefs are tentative and open to revision. But no, the shape of the universe is known. CMB data has shown a flat universe. What is strange, is that it should have been even flatter in the past. This is of course what is called the flatness problem in modern cosmology.

So not only is it known, but a consequence of its value is a large avenue of research.

You are correct about the Lagrange points. We call those stationary points, which is a term that probably derives from Ordinary Differential Equations. The math is not that bad, as far as these things go.

Some lagrange points are stable and some are not. It is convenient to place objects at L1 and L3, I believe, which are the stable ones.

Maybe regurgitate was an unfair word. Pssst though, every generation thinks they’re in the golden age. I encourage you to study cosmology. Might be right up your alley with your astronomy hobby.