The Recession-Constant of the Galaxies
Open Access
- 1 August 1944
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 104 (4) , 200-204
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/104.4.200
Abstract
Theoretical arguments suggested a relation between the size of the universe and the constants of atomic physics as early as 1919. The suggestion became more definite in 1930, when it was found that the ratio 2.3.10 39 of the electrical to the gravitational force between a proton and electron was nearly the square root (5.3.10 39 ) of the number of elementary particles in the universe found from the observed recession of the nebulæ. There are now several independent methods of calculating the nebular recession-constant from laboratory data, and these agree on the definitive value 572 km. per sec. per mp. This is considered in conjunction with astronomical data as to the system of the galaxies. It appears that the “expansion” (ratio of the present radius to the Einstein radius) must be between 3 and 8. The former vague description of past time as logarithmically infinite is superseded by a definite upper limit of 90,000 million years.Keywords
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