Let me explain something; u3a’s bread and butter are the interest groups. There is not specific size, but I think u3a like there to be at least four members for a viable group. I’m member of five groups; Local History, Exploring. Art, Stargazing and History.
I recently found out that there is a whole other tier of u3a groups; IGO’s or Interest Groups Online. As the name suggests, the main means of communications for an IGO is either Zoom or WhatsApp. I’m a member of five IGO’s; Armchair Archaeology, Geology, Astronomy, Modern Art and Photography. The last two are WhatsApp based. Whether it is the normal face to face, the online (Zoom) or online (WhatsApp), they all work very well.
Today, for example, was the turn of IGO Astronomy. We had a presentation by a member of the group who used to be an astronomer. I’d note here that in my view, the idea of a “former astronomer” is a bit of a misnomer. Astronomy is one of those careers that even in retirement, you can’t escape from (should you even want to).
The speaker wanted to introduce to us a new model of the universe that is signifcantly different to that of the Big Bang, namely that of Tired Light. The basis of this theory is that the universe is static, not expanding, and that light as it moves across the universe does so with less energy, it becoomes “tired”. It is the tiredness that causes the light to red-shift, not the recession of the galaxies.
It appears that this version of the universe was put forward at the same time as Hubble was observing and developing what became the Big Bang Theory.
I have to say that it was a very interesting session, but I am not convinced.
Ah! Now, this post should have gone out last night (22 Apr). I’ve just realised that it hasn’t been published. That’s frustrating. That it wasn’t published, and that my count has reset to zero. Tonights post (No. 1973 The Lyrids – possibly, not decided yet (that last bit isn’t part of title (neither is this – oh look, you know what I mean)).
Bills Posts 