THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street      Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249      usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N    70.2667° W
Founded January 1970
2022-2023: XXXII
Sunrise: 7:16 a.m.
Sunset: 5:33 p.m.
Civil twilight ends: 6:03 p.m.
Sun's host constellation: Libra the Scales
Moon phase: Waning Crescent (43% illuminated)
Moonrise: 2:07 p.m.
Moonset: 11:02 p.m.
Julian date: 2459884.21
                   "Knowledge is like a sphere; the greater its  volume,
the larger its contact with the unknown."   -David Christian

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, October 31, 2022
Egg to Apple - A Guide to Big History IV: Threshold Zero

A lovely translucent lotus blossom gently descended into the dark hollow of
the Southworth Planetarium. It halted in mid-descent as its lustrous petals
gradually unfurled. Like a balloon propelled by updraft winds, a
phosphorescent icosahedron emerged out of the blossom and spun on all axes
so that every equilateral side blazed scarlet as it turned toward the
flower head. At once, the grandest of all Platonic solids opened to reveal
a miniscule figure nestling cozily on a sumptuously furnished ytjt. His had
been a deep, restful sleep that had gone undisturbed since long before the
blossom's previous stop around Mintaka. Suddenly, his faint smile faded
slightly as the Planetarium's dome door was thrown open and then closed
with a thunderous bang. The icosahedron snapped shut as it descended into
the flower that promptly enveloped it in its closing petals. The blossom
then plummeted hurriedly through Earth while the sole occupant's rest
remained unbroken, thereby guaranteeing that the cosmos would persist
without any discontinuity.


*THRESHOLD ZERO:  BEYOND THE BEGINNING*

The usual sub-heading "Before the Beginning" is as inappropriate as it is
nonsensical. The Big Bang event created both space and time within our
self-contained Universe and so the temporally relative term "before" makes
no sense.  Similarly, the word "outside," being spatially relative, is also
meaningless.   Nothing can exist outside space anymore than anything could
happen before time began.

[This moment would be  an opportune time to allow your intuition to lapse
into temporary dormancy.]

Nothing.
No space.
No time.
No matter.
No energy.

The Universe: the unfathomably vast system containing ten million galactic
superclusters and its quadrillions upon quadrillions of stars, likely equal
numbers of planets and their attendant moons, did not exist.     It
wasn't.   Not even a ripple.  Not even a non-dimensional point of
singularity.

So, how did it arise?
Why does it exist and, by extension, why do we exist?
We have no answers, merely ideas.  Theories that might well go forever
unproven.    Principal among these ideas is that of the multiverse:  the
field or region; cauldron or ocean from which all nascent universes
emerge.     Those born bereft of favorable conditions perish almost at
once, like seeds that go ungerminated.   Others persist and, provided that
the fundamental forces governing the behaviors of the constituent
matter/energy are properly configured, conditions conducive to life will
prevail.

We want to envision these Universes as "bubbles" rising from a common
source, such as those rising up through a fizzy drink.     However, this
vision, being spatial, isn't a reflection of reality. The problem is that
we're attempting to apply three dimensional principles to what could well
be a hyper spatial uber-reality.      So, how can we begin to visualize the
multiverse?

[This moment would be  an opportune time to allow your intuition to lapse
into temporary dormancy.]

We can't, at least as far  as we know.   To explain, imagine a rook  on a
Scrabble board.*     Yes, one can place the rook physically  on the board,
but the piece, itself, can have  no function in the Scrabble  game.    The
rules and game objectives are completely different from Chess and so the
rook cannot be present in the game despite its physical presence.      Pore
through the Scrabble rules** and one will  find no reference to the rook.
It is undefined and cannot intersect with the Scrabble rules at all.

Similarly,  an "alternate"  Universe would be governed by different
physical laws and could even assume a different number of dimensions that
those within  our own cosmos.    Although we readily acknowledge four
dimensions -the three spatial dimensions of width, breadth and length and
the one temporal dimension of duration- string theorists speculate that our
Universe might contain ten or more.     We likely couldn't "enter" another
Universe just as the rook can't affect a Scrabble game.

Another notion, posited by String Theory, is that a black hole could
"burrow"  into a "brane," a multidimensional "object" and cause another
"Big Bang" and the subsequent birth of a Universe.      As most black holes
form after a highly massive  star's  life ends as  Type II supernova, our
cosmos has spawned hundreds of billions black holes and, by extension, a
similar number of alternate Universes.      These Universes, in turn, could
also  produce black holes provided that their  conditions are conducive to
the  formation of stars.    Universes that implode soon after formation or
those that never form stars might  not  produce alternate Universes.   This
scenario remind us disquietingly of living  organisms.  Only mature members
and those with the requisite internal conditions are able  to  reproduce.

[image: wormhole.jpg]

Although this notion lends itself  to some sort of visualization and so
seems more intuitively pleasing, we still couldn't visualize any alternate
Universes.  It might not resemble its  parent in any respect.     Moreover,
a  black hole's  tidal  forces are so powerful that nobody could "enter"
the passageway connecting  the black hole to the  other end.    For
instance, an intrepid  astronaut would be  reduced to her  component
subatomic  particles before she  came  within 200  miles  of the  black
hole's event horizon.  Moreover, even if an object could reach the black
hole, the attached conduit, known  as the *Einstein-Rosen Bridge*, would
likely collapse  at once, thereby precluding  any conveyance from the
progenitor Universe to the one  produced by  it.

The true problem with threshold zero, apart  from its wholly speculative
nature, is that it doesn't yield any insight into first causes, the truly
bedeviling aspect  of physical reality.      If universes are produced by
black holes, how  did the first Universe come about?    If the Big  Bang
produced the Universe, what precipitated the  Big Bang?    Are these
questions knowable or even askable?     Perhaps asking "What came first?"
is akin to asking,  "What's the color of Friday?"

What we do know is that our Universe began about 13.8 billion years ago.
So,  now that we've given  a nod to the speculative realm of multiverses
and the inconceivable  hyper-spatial uber-reality that might have given
rise to every Universe, including our own, we next proceed  to what we do
know about what has  transpired from the Big Bang  to the  present moment.

So now we prepare to start the clock.


*Earlier this year we offered the same illustration with a bishop on a
Monopoly board.

**Where, dear Uncle, you'll learn that making up words such as "xzqj,"  the
sound produced by a yak striking its head on a bridge abutment,  is not
permitted.


_________________________________________________
MYTHOLOGICAL EGG TO APPLE

*PARIS: Not just a shepherd*

[image: 1_orig.jpg]
It was toward the end of Trojan Queen Hecuba's latest pregnancy that she
experienced a vivid dream so horrifying she woke up in a desperate panic.
   She had dreamt that she gave birth not to a child, but to  a flaming
brand,  one that utterly destroyed the  kingdom, leaving  it little more
than a pile  of ashes.     The distraught queen at once consulted the  seer
Aesacus, who, also having been one of her husband Priam's sons from a
previous marriage, was beloved of the queen and fully trusted  by her.
Aesacus reluctantly informed Hecuba that the unborn child  would, if
allowed  to mature to adulthood, cause Troy's complete ruin.

Although Priam and Hecuba harbored an abiding love for  their children,
they resolved to kill the baby just after his/her birth.   They were united
in the belief that Troy, the town that they built into a mighty kingdom,
was more important even than the lives of their own infants. However, as
soon as the baby boy was born neither  of them had the heart to smother
him. All the same, they knew the danger the child  posed  to their kingdom
and so knew that they had to act swiftly.

They summoned their chief herdsman Agelaus to their chamber.    On his
arrival, Agelaus was shocked to see a baby with the royal couple.
"Forgive me, sire, for I would have brought a gift had I known that there
had been a birth."     Hecuba looked grave.   "Noone knew of this birth and
nor will they ever."      For the very first time, Priam laid a hand on
Agelaus' shoulder.  "We beseech you to take the baby home and kill him at
once."     Agelaus started and instinctively stepped back.  "Sire?!"
Although he didn't raise his voice, Priam's tone was stern,  "At once," he
repeated, handing the infant to Agelaus.     He then turned to and embraced
his trembling wife.  "Go now, without another word and bring us proof of
the deed."    Clutching the infant, Agelaus bowed silently and left.

Once he returned home, Agelaus looked upon the beautiful baby and realized
that, devoted to the king and queen as he had always been, he could not
murder the child.   Instead, he brought him out to the side of Mount Ida
and exposed him.     The miserable Agelaus  knew that the elements would
dispatch the infant straight away.       However, soon after the shepherd
left, a she-bear, who had just lost a cub to a wolf attack, saw the
abandoned baby and suckled it.

A few days later, Agelaus returned and was both shocked and delighted to
see the child happy and healthy under the she-bear's protection.      He
was also surprised to realize that he had grown to love the child.    He
quickly snatched the baby away , placed it in a satchel and dashed madly
away with the furious she-bear in pursuit.   After eluding the she-bear,
Agelaus returned home and decided to raise the baby as his own child.
 Realizing that he needed to produce proof the child's murder,  he killed
one of his own dogs and cut out its tongue.   He then presented this tongue
to the King and hurried away.

Aeglaus named his adopted son  Pera, which, in Greek means "little
satchel."  This name eventually became Paris.   Paris matured into a tall,
lean, beautiful young man who loved nothing more than to roam the
countryside tending to his father's sheep.      Actually, perhaps one could
say that harbored a deeper love for his father's prized white bull.
Admittedly, it was one of the most beautiful animals in the world.     So
fond was Paris of this creature and so convinced was he of its unsurpassed
beauty, that he proclaimed,  "If there is any bull more beautiful anywhere,
I shall crown it with gold."

This boast immediately came to the attention of Hermes, the messenger god
and Ares, the god of war.    We all know that the gods deplored boastful
mortals.  "I think we should show that young man a thing or two," Hermes
said.   Ares nodded with assent and then transformed himself into the shape
of the most beautiful white bull.     Hermes, who then turned himself into
the shape of a shepherd, brought the bull down to Troy and approached
Paris, who had been dozing lightly in the heat of early afternoon.

"I hear that you promised a crown of gold to any bull more beautiful than
your own," he said without any introduction.  Paris awoke with a start and
asked the stranger to repeat his words.  When he did, Paris stood up.
 "Why, yes, I did make that promise, not that I ever expect to have to
fulfil..."   Paris broke off, for he then saw the white bull before him.
 After having gazed at it for a long moment, Paris walked around the animal
many times.   During these revolutions he often slapped the bull's hind,
caressed its head and stoked its back.  Ares bore these impertinences with
uncharacteristic equanimity.      Paris then regarded the stranger
reverently,  "Your bull is superior to mine," he said.   Paris then
gathered up an assortment of yellow flowers and adorned the bull's head
with them.  "I can only offer meadow gold," Paris explained
apologetically.      Hermes smiled. "Your honesty is reward enough."

Much time passed until he saw Hermes again.  Paris had fallen in love and
married Oenone, daughter of the river god Cebren.   He remained a devoted
shepherd who spent days happily roaming the countryside to tend to his
flock.         He intended to live a simple shepherd's life with his
beloved wife.  Yet, it was not to be.     One day Hermes returned, this
time in the form of Hermes, himself.      The astonished Paris regarded him
fearfully, for he assumed that he had incurred the wrath of the Olympians.
 "What have I done?" he asked.     Hermes beamed. "You have done nothing
that has put you out of our favor.    On the contrary, your integrity and
honesty has impressed Zeus, himself.   He needs you to decide a certain
matter that he doesn't wish to settle himself. "
             "What is that?" Paris whispered incredulously.
              Hermes sighed. "It's a long story.  Allow me to explain."

Next time:  the wedding of Peleus and Thetis and the judgement of Paris.
__________________________________________________________________


To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Daily Astronomer:
https://lists.maine.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=DAILY-ASTRONOMER&A=
<https://lists.maine.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=DAILY-ASTRONOMER&A=1>