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Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands
Thanks for the insights, although it is really weird stuff to wrap your head around. One wonders how any of this can be stated with any authority. For instance, this expanding balloon analogy, what was smoked to induce that line of thought? What do you observe that can reinforce these theories? (Not that I would understand the answer.)
So what is the hottest question in astronomy circles these days?
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Can this stuff be stated with authority? Notwithstanding philosophical epistemological nonsense (Descartes etc), we know it pretty well. Our knowledge is not bullet-proof. We may wake up tomorrow and a discovery will be made that could shatter everything we know. But the scientific method is pretty reliable. Observations are made, models are predicted to fit observations, then they are tested against other observations, and the model is improved, proven or dropped. It is all we have and all we can do.
What do we observe? The microwave background radiation is one a lot of people have heard of. Cosmological redshifts (Hubble's Law) are another.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_...ound_radiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_redshift
And what is the biggest question facing astronomers these days? I really don't know. Nothing really sticks out. I suppose it would have to be something cosmological. Maybe refining the Hubble parameter so we can finally get a handle on the exact structure of our universe and its destiny? That's not really a question, but more of a case of refining what we know.
Of course, a unifying theory is still being searched for, but that is more physics related than astronomy.
And what they were smoking? I don't know, but I do know Carl Sagan was a HUGE pot smoker.
