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“Nearby universe“? Did we just detect another one I’m not aware of?

by leshokunin 5y ago

lmilcin 5y ago
I was about to comment the same. No, they mean our universe. Sadly. If title was true it would be much more exciting.
Borrible 5y ago
Well, the universe is everywhere. Everything else, not.
xvilka 5y ago
Just a weird wording. I believe they meant "in our neighborhood".
- bradrn 5y ago
  Or possibly ‘nearby in our universe’.
happy-go-lucky 5y ago
"This is the type of unscripted event in our nearby universe ..." https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/oddball_burst.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/oddball_burs... "The first stars, called Population III stars (our star is a Population I star), were much bigger and brighter than any in our nearby universe ..." https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/timeline-2006121889912.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/timeli... "In our nearby universe, dust is pumped out by dying stars like our sun." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/10000-earths-worth-of-fresh-dust-found-near-star-explosion https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/10000-earths-worth-of-fresh-du... "We can't yet directly rule out mysterious sources for this light that could be coming from our nearby universe ..." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-spitzer-finds-first-objects-burned-furiously https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-spitzer-finds-first-obje... Looks like it is not uncommon for them to say so.
- jhgb 5y ago
  Lots of things are "not uncommon" in common speech. That doesn't make them paragons of style.
snet0 5y ago
I know it's a joke but it means nearby universe as distinct from distant universe, if anyone is actually confused.
- scott-smith_us 5y ago
  ...but then wouldn't it make sense to say something like "nearby region of the universe"? Somehow the word "universe" in the phrase "nearby universe" seems redundant (e.g. where ELSE would it be?)
amelius 5y ago
No, "another universe" is a contradiction since if we found one, our universe would simply be bigger than previously thought and cosmological physics would need an overhaul.
- zzt123 5y ago
  Wouldn’t it be fair to consider a causally disconnected (relative to us) place to be another universe, at least in layman terms? After all, it is expected in a couple trillion years that nothing outside the local group will be observable. Who knows how much “disconnected universe” there is. Unless that is somehow known, which seems difficult since it is by definition causally disconnected.
- flancian 5y ago
  Max Tegmark covers this in Our Mathematical Universe. It's a question of definitions. He makes the argument that defining "universe" to mean "our visible universe", that is, a radius of around 140B ly, is the most useful; if you assume infinite space and infinite matter (which seem to follow from the theory of inflation, which has provided explanations and predictions elsewhere), there are likely infinitely many universes all around following this definition (for other visibility scopes).
- flancian 5y ago
  Max Tegmark covers this in Our Mathematical Universe. It's a question of definitions. He makes the argument that defining "universe" to mean "our visible universe", that is, a radius of around 14B ly, is the most useful; if you assume infinite space and infinite matter (which seem to follow from the theory of inflation, which has provided explanations and predictions elsewhere), there are likely infinitely many universes all around following this definition (for other visibility scopes).
  - stan_rogers 5y ago
    Just an unnecessarily pendantic note: the visible (observable) universe would be defined as anything that emitted radiation that would have reached us, and in an expanding universe that means it's considerably larger than 14-ish billion light years radius. Conveniently, it works out to about 14 billion parsecs, so nobody needs to remember another number, they just need to do the conversion.
dogma1138 5y ago
Anything within 1 billion light years from us is considered “near by universe”, it’s sometimes also called our local universe. Tt’s the region of space around us in which cosmic evolution doesn’t play a major factor for observations unlike something that say is 10 billion light years away. Basically it’s a anything close enough to us that when we observe it we can assume that at least as far as the galactic evolution goes it’s in a current or “developed” state, as in mature and fully formed galaxies.
- jhgb 5y ago
  That's usually called "space", not "universe". The universe is the entirety of space around us. By virtue of countability, the phrase "nearby universe" is problematic since it suggests contrast with other, "far" universes (which don't include the space around us).
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
    "Hot singles in your area" is a bit different than "Hot singles in your nearby area." The term "nearby universe" is perfectly fine, as far as the English language goes.
    - garbagetime 5y ago
      > "Hot singles in your nearby area." This doesn't sound like standard English either, though.
      - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
        If it's good enough for the New York Times, it's good enough for me: https://ludwig.guru/s/nearby+area https://ludwig.guru/s/nearby+area
        kbelder 5y ago
        Bad rule of thumb, in general.
corobo 5y ago
I think it's more supposed to read as close to us Casually dropping the discovery of the multiverse as a footnote would be fun though
- leshokunin 5y ago
  “I found a more comfortable pillow for cryogenically suspended space travel!”
dghughes 5y ago
Yes the phrasing threw me off too. It's like saying there's a room in a "nearby house" when you mean your own house.
VelkaMorava 5y ago
And in a true HN fashion, the award for most autistic and pointlessly pedantic comment goes to you.

“Nearby universe“? Did we just detect another one I’m not aware of?

lmilcin 5y ago

I was about to comment the same. No, they mean our universe. Sadly. If title was true it would be much more exciting.

Borrible 5y ago

Well, the universe is everywhere. Everything else, not.

xvilka 5y ago

Just a weird wording. I believe they meant "in our neighborhood".

bradrn 5y ago
Or possibly ‘nearby in our universe’.

happy-go-lucky 5y ago

"This is the type of unscripted event in our nearby universe ..." https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/oddball_burst.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/oddball_burs... "The first stars, called Population III stars (our star is a Population I star), were much bigger and brighter than any in our nearby universe ..." https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/timeline-2006121889912.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/timeli... "In our nearby universe, dust is pumped out by dying stars like our sun." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/10000-earths-worth-of-fresh-dust-found-near-star-explosion https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/10000-earths-worth-of-fresh-du... "We can't yet directly rule out mysterious sources for this light that could be coming from our nearby universe ..." https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-spitzer-finds-first-objects-burned-furiously https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-spitzer-finds-first-obje... Looks like it is not uncommon for them to say so.

jhgb 5y ago
Lots of things are "not uncommon" in common speech. That doesn't make them paragons of style.

snet0 5y ago

I know it's a joke but it means nearby universe as distinct from distant universe, if anyone is actually confused.

scott-smith_us 5y ago
...but then wouldn't it make sense to say something like "nearby region of the universe"? Somehow the word "universe" in the phrase "nearby universe" seems redundant (e.g. where ELSE would it be?)

amelius 5y ago

No, "another universe" is a contradiction since if we found one, our universe would simply be bigger than previously thought and cosmological physics would need an overhaul.

zzt123 5y ago
Wouldn’t it be fair to consider a causally disconnected (relative to us) place to be another universe, at least in layman terms? After all, it is expected in a couple trillion years that nothing outside the local group will be observable. Who knows how much “disconnected universe” there is. Unless that is somehow known, which seems difficult since it is by definition causally disconnected.
flancian 5y ago
Max Tegmark covers this in Our Mathematical Universe. It's a question of definitions. He makes the argument that defining "universe" to mean "our visible universe", that is, a radius of around 140B ly, is the most useful; if you assume infinite space and infinite matter (which seem to follow from the theory of inflation, which has provided explanations and predictions elsewhere), there are likely infinitely many universes all around following this definition (for other visibility scopes).
flancian 5y ago
Max Tegmark covers this in Our Mathematical Universe. It's a question of definitions. He makes the argument that defining "universe" to mean "our visible universe", that is, a radius of around 14B ly, is the most useful; if you assume infinite space and infinite matter (which seem to follow from the theory of inflation, which has provided explanations and predictions elsewhere), there are likely infinitely many universes all around following this definition (for other visibility scopes).
- stan_rogers 5y ago
  Just an unnecessarily pendantic note: the visible (observable) universe would be defined as anything that emitted radiation that would have reached us, and in an expanding universe that means it's considerably larger than 14-ish billion light years radius. Conveniently, it works out to about 14 billion parsecs, so nobody needs to remember another number, they just need to do the conversion.

dogma1138 5y ago

Anything within 1 billion light years from us is considered “near by universe”, it’s sometimes also called our local universe. Tt’s the region of space around us in which cosmic evolution doesn’t play a major factor for observations unlike something that say is 10 billion light years away. Basically it’s a anything close enough to us that when we observe it we can assume that at least as far as the galactic evolution goes it’s in a current or “developed” state, as in mature and fully formed galaxies.

jhgb 5y ago
That's usually called "space", not "universe". The universe is the entirety of space around us. By virtue of countability, the phrase "nearby universe" is problematic since it suggests contrast with other, "far" universes (which don't include the space around us).
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
  "Hot singles in your area" is a bit different than "Hot singles in your nearby area." The term "nearby universe" is perfectly fine, as far as the English language goes.
  - garbagetime 5y ago
    > "Hot singles in your nearby area." This doesn't sound like standard English either, though.
    - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
      If it's good enough for the New York Times, it's good enough for me: https://ludwig.guru/s/nearby+area https://ludwig.guru/s/nearby+area
      - kbelder 5y ago
        Bad rule of thumb, in general.

corobo 5y ago

I think it's more supposed to read as close to us Casually dropping the discovery of the multiverse as a footnote would be fun though

leshokunin 5y ago
“I found a more comfortable pillow for cryogenically suspended space travel!”

dghughes 5y ago

Yes the phrasing threw me off too. It's like saying there's a room in a "nearby house" when you mean your own house.

VelkaMorava 5y ago

And in a true HN fashion, the award for most autistic and pointlessly pedantic comment goes to you.