Uh, Oh. “Copernican Principle” Might Be Wrong

Aileen — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:20:12 +0000

Most of us have never heard of this “Copernican Principle” that is apparently so popular in astrophysics. According to Wikipedia The Copernican principle insists that Earth is not in a central, specially favored position in the universe (or solar system). New York Times science blogger John Tierney examines the principle as part of the Doomsday argument.

Physicists at Oxford University, however, have released a paper that reaches the conclusion that we just might inhabit a ‘special’ region of the universe after all.

In the article Dark Energy: Is It Merely An Illusion?, the Oxford scientists theorize that we might instead inhabit a “huge void” in the universe where the density of matter is particularly low. This would tend to account for increasing expansion, which simply cannot be explained by the gravitational realities factored on the density of matter, on the assumption that the density is uniform throughout the universe.

The Oxford mavericks conclude that forthcoming tests of the Copernican principle should help sort the reality from the theories in the next few years.

Science News Review » Dark Energy

Uh, Oh. “Copernican Principle” Might Be Wrong