Current Events > I just found out galaxies don't exist

(+) Yeah! (+)

In a real, concrete sense. You can't "pick up" a galaxy the way you could a star. See for the longest time I thought space was a progressive set of layers. So like you had a planet, then a star, then a galaxy. But no, a galaxy is just a collection of starlight. So even though they have those crazy shapes, that's just the arrangement of stars.

Wow!
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I don't understand what you thought a galaxy was. I mean how did you go from planet to star to galaxy? Did you think a galaxy was just like a really big star? Its not like stars are just really big planets. Had you never heard of a solar system? If anything a galaxy is just a really big solar system.
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If you're breaking things down to their very basic form: yes, you're right. Galaxies don't exist. But on that same token, you and I don't exist either, because there's not a physical barrier where you can definitively determine that an object quits being "you".

For example, you consider the hair on your head part of "you", but when you cut it off, does it no longer become part of "you"? Or if someone were to chop off your arm, would you say it's no longer your arm? What's the actual barrier on when a cluster of atoms no longer merge into your physical as well as mental being? And when you break it down even further, there are gaps of space between atoms. In that sense, nothing is physically solid; everything is mostly just empty space.

Well, there you go.
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Space isn't real, wake up sheeple
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Philoktetes posted...

So even though they have those crazy shapes, that's just the arrangement of stars.

And nebulae.
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Consider an atom. Most of the atom is empty space. Doesn't mean the atom doesn't exist. Same with the solar system like someone said
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That's like saying stars aren't real because there is empty space between the adjacent plasma ions

awesome999 posted...

Consider an atom. Most of the atom is empty space. Doesn't mean the atom doesn't exist. Same with the solar system like someone said

The atoms coalesce to give rise to a form that can be perceived by sensory detection. That's where we give labels to things like stars, galaxies, etc. based on how their atomic structure form.

To me, it's strange to think that our own solar system existed for billions of years, but it went undetected by anything until life started to converge on earth. Life is the only way this universe can become aware of/detect its own existence, as far as we know.

Galaxies definitely exist in the manner in which they are scientifically defined i.e. an abnormally dense cluster of matter due to gravitational effects (Most likey relating to Dark Matter, though the exact mechanism is not currently clear).
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I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.
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FroMan posted...

I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.

Everything outside elementary particles are a collection of several things.

Is this flat Earth nonsense?

MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.

Everything outside elementary particles are a collection of several things.

Everyone knows that. I thought the idea I was expressing was obvious enough that I didn't have to define and qualify my terms.
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FroMan posted...

MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.

Everything outside elementary particles are a collection of several things.

Everyone knows that. I thought the idea I was expressing was obvious enough that I didn't have to define and qualify my terms.

But you're underselling how similar a galaxy is to anything else. A galaxy is just bound gravitationally rather than electromagnetically. It exists in as strong of a sense as any other object.

Galaxies are just social constructs like everything else.

Get with the times man.
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Milky Way is just a candy bar. Somebody managed to convince the world it was something else. Pretty impressive.
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Galaxies are as much a physical object as hurricanes.

They're gravitational entities so they very much are an actual object and not just "how the stars are".
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MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.

Everything outside elementary particles are a collection of several things.

Everyone knows that. I thought the idea I was expressing was obvious enough that I didn't have to define and qualify my terms.

But you're underselling how similar a galaxy is to anything else. A galaxy is just bound gravitationally rather than electromagnetically. It exists in as strong of a sense as any other object.

I'm just curious, I've watched the whole series of "The Universe" and ""how theUniverse Works", the way they illustrate the known universe is more so structrured in vein series in a web type structure. I wonder why, when everything else is circular when considering...planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies...our universe is not presented that way.
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BadassblackTA posted...

MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

MJ_Max posted...

FroMan posted...

I believe the TC misspoke. I don't think he meant to suggest that galaxies don't exists. I think he was surprised to find out that a galaxy isn't a single thing, but rather its a collection of several things.

Everything outside elementary particles are a collection of several things.

Everyone knows that. I thought the idea I was expressing was obvious enough that I didn't have to define and qualify my terms.

But you're underselling how similar a galaxy is to anything else. A galaxy is just bound gravitationally rather than electromagnetically. It exists in as strong of a sense as any other object.

I'm just curious, I've watched the whole series of "The Universe" and ""how theUniverse Works", the way they illustrate the known universe is more so structrured in vein series in a web type structure. I wonder why, when everything else is circular when considering...planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies...our universe is not presented that way.

Thats because the Universe prefers to present itself as an attack helicopter
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We're all just energy floating in the cosmos, man.
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BadassblackTA posted...

I'm just curious, I've watched the whole series of "The Universe" and ""how theUniverse Works", the way they illustrate the known universe is more so structrured in vein series in a web type structure. I wonder why, when everything else is circular when considering...planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies...our universe is not presented that way.

It's pretty simple actually. Those things spin because they all have a center mass causing the movement.

The Universe is however expanding and doesn't have a center mass to keep it in check.

Also, to add further, eventually everything will be subject to this expansion and galaxies and solar systems and eventually every atom will disperse away.
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weapon_d00d816 posted...

Galaxies are as much a physical object as hurricanes.

They're gravitational entities so they very much are an actual object and not just "how the stars are".

If you follow that logic through, the universe is just an object. Galaxies form superclusters that run all through the universe, all bound together gravitationally. And where does that leave us? We're gravitationally bound to the earth, after all. Not saying you're wrong at all, the thought just has interesting implications.
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I love you so much TC

Galaxies exist in the exact same way countries exist; they are names we use for existing areas of space. They get much more complex than that, but that is it in a nutshell.

Practically speaking, we typically classify something as being a distinct thing if we can distinguish it from the surrounding things. Likewise, we typically classify something as being a distinct thing when it, as a whole, has its own function/behavior and becomes inseparable from the parts that comprise it.
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thing about galaxies is immoral
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it still counts as a unit on an inter-galactic scale tho. a galaxy has a center of gravity. it's sorta like how the solar system is just the sun and everything that is in its sphere of influence. the sun moves along with the galaxy, and our planet moves along with the sun
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I'm Galaxy Fluid
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would you eat this galaxy
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DoctorPiranha3 posted...

For example, you consider the hair on your head part of "you", but when you cut it off, does it no longer become part of "you"? Or if someone were to chop off your arm, would you say it's no longer your arm? What's the actual barrier on when a cluster of atoms no longer merge into your physical as well as mental being? And when you break it down even further, there are gaps of space between atoms. In that sense, nothing is physically solid; everything is mostly just empty space.

my head hurts
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This is a great topic!
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