Travels in Time

TRAVELS in TIME

The universal, rotating disk.
A model upon which all things revolve.

Forces of Creation and Destruction.
Creating destruction. Destroying Creation.

Though many different types of galaxies exist, of all shapes and sizes, the flattened spiral form serves as a good example in illustrating some peculiar properties associated with dynamic rotation.

Though seemingly very technical in nature, even dull and unimportant, the principles involved can strike with the same impact as the most exciting science fiction. It is a mystery story of the highest caliber, an epic adventure that spans vast distances and blazes with the fires burning from trillions of suns.

Most (if not all) galaxies, regardless of structure, possess at least three common attributes:

01. Each rotates on an axis.
02. As a whole, each is in motion, traveling through space with a directional velocity.
03. Each, in concert with one or more others, revolves around one or more remote, gravitational hubs.

All three simultaneous motions collectively and cumulatively constitute what might be designated as a galaxy’s singular trajectory through open space.

It is interesting that galaxies are macro-size versions of star and planetary systems. Just as planets rotate on an axis, move through space, and revolve about a central sun, galactic systems operate in similar fashion as they spin and revolve about centralized, gravitational midpoints. An important distinction, however, must be made as to the limits of such a comparison. Stars and their families of planets are relatively static systems that, by comparison, behave much like solid, fixed structures. Planets and other bodies tend to remain in established orbits, with little change over long periods of time. Galaxies, by contrast, behave more like fluids, undergoing and manifesting many changes over very long periods of time.

With regard to the aforementioned spiral galaxy type in question, its physical composition appears initially as that of a simple, solid platter. A disk-shaped structure with a rounded bulge at its center. Both the platter and galaxy spin and, instead of musical tracks or motion picture frames, the galaxy boasts rings of stars that, in the form of stretched-out arms, sweep about its hub. But beyond the obvious, other immense differences exist between the two. While a phonograph record or digital disc rotates as a static whole, a galaxy spins like a whirlpool, or a tornado minus its elongated funnel cloud.

Just as continents float atop the semi-liquid molten surface of the earth, a process called Plate Tectonics, galactic components move about in a form of what might be called Platter Tectonics. This refers to a condition whereby the central or inner regions of either whirlpools or galaxies, rotate at much different rates than the middle areas which, in turn, move differently from outer regions.

As water circles an open drain and describes a whirlpool effect, it rotates most rapidly near the drain opening itself. Current theory suggests that a massive Black Hole sits in the center of most if not all galaxies, and is largely responsible for much of the gravitational dynamics that characterize galactic phenomena. But what, one asks, does any of this have to do with the hectic lives of human beings as they go about their business day-to-day?

The answer again involves that deceptively simple thing we call “time”. Everyone in one way or another, cares about the time of day, the time required to accomplish a task, the time since their birth, the time of approaching death. Time permeates every aspect of human life, controls it, influences our every thought and action. Yet no one really understands what it is. No one actually knows how it works. And certainly no one, to date, has ever explained why it operates in the familiar manner to which all time-keepers have grown so accustom.

While only humans measure the flow of time via mechanical clocks and other instruments, the lives of plants and animals, also, are obviously governed and influenced by various effects (affectations) of biological clocks. People included.

But what do galaxies have to do with human concepts of time? Why is it important? To answer the second question first, the entire business is probably irrelevant to most people. But it is supremely interesting, however, to anyone who has ever wondered about the actual nature of real time. The ancient enigma has something to do with what is happening in the universe, on a day-to-day basis. It has something to do with who we are, why we are, and what we are.

Time is a local phenomenon. Similar to a liquid, time is an occurrence whose rate-of-flow -- the interval between one moment and the next -- is individually unique to one’s specific location and motion relative to the galactic, if not cosmological whole. Within the Milky Way galaxy, home to humankind, time does not -- along a horizontal, ecliptic plane -- operate in the same way everywhere. From a galaxy's innermost central point to its most distant edge, the forces that govern and regulate time do not themselves deviate, but rather the speed at which time itself elapses is as flexible and fluid as the galactic gas clouds (or other matter) which fill the spaces between the stars.

Depending on where something is situated as part of a galaxy, it possesses a specific and predictable velocity while moving through open space. Within this highly localized region, all matter is affected by, and bound to, the limitations associated with rates of motion.

It is important to realize that, confluent with miscellaneous and undetermined Quantum Mechanical elements, sub-atomic particles are somehow also affected. But in ways that are well beyond the scope and purpose of this essay.

To continue, the faster something travels, the slower the rate at which time flows everywhere about it, in it, around it. Unknown and unspecified is the distance from such an object, how far out might an area extend, wherein the flow of time remains the same, and beyond which an increase or decrease is detectable or significant. The slower a body’s designated speed, the faster the progression of time within its particular zone. In either case, speed and location also determine the rate at which time elapses. But where is the proof for such seemingly outlandish assertions?

Albert Einstein was probably the first to suggest that greatly increased rates of velocity produce a slowing of time. Clocks placed in orbit, traveling at 18,000 miles per hour (or more) run (tick) slower than their Earthbound counterparts. Though nearly imperceptible, astronauts age more slowly than their fellows back on Earth. However, if something is somehow slowed from its normal, previous speed through space, and if the deceleration is sufficient enough, time should speed up; it should tick-by at a faster rate. Astronauts in this scenario would age more rapidly than those who remain on solid ground.

When an object or body travels faster, it duplicates or emulates some or many of the speeds of motion (already in progress) at or near the swift-moving inner areas of galaxies. Earth’s own (slower) pace is set and fixed by its position in an outer portion (arm) of the Milky Way. This is our local neighborhood, and a place where time moves at its more familiar rate.

Farther from the galactic hub than ourselves, some other localized regions should exist as areas where time elapses more rapidly compared to Earth. This happens -- as suggested prior -- because these outer locations, or galactic time-zones, are revolving with a much slower velocity as they move through space. The differences involved may, in fact, be only slight. It would be interesting to query an astrophysicist as to how great -- or small -- such differences truly are.

As yet unanswerable, therefore, is the degree to which shifts-in-time take place, as compared to shifts-in-location. Discrepancies may be only matters of nano or micro-seconds, minutes, hours or days in magnitude, maybe more. Easily confused as a set of interdependent factors, a notable emphasis is again repeated which draws attention specifically to the differences between changes in speed, and alterations in the incremental flow-rate of time.

It is perhaps less a concern of how advanced is the design of a spaceship, and more importantly its destination -- with a predictable and calculable time of arrival.