Astronomy Professor Discusses The Direction of The Universe

The question of whether the universe will expand indefinitely or shrink into one compressed point is still unresolved, George B. Field, Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy, said last night to a capacity crowd in Science Center B.

Field spoke for an hour on "The Mass of the Universe" in the first of a series of astronomy lectures designed for non-specialists.

If the universe's present mean density (the amount of matter per unit of space) exceeds three atoms per cubic meter then the universe is closed. If the universe is insufficiently dense, as current but incomplete results indicate, then it is open and will continue to expand, he said.

"One number, dammit, if we could measure it, we would know the answer," Field added.

The High Energy Astrophysical Observatory-B (HEAO-B), an orbiting X-ray observatory scheduled to be launched later this month by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, should provide valuable information relating to the density question and other areas of astrophysics research, Field added.

After explaining the methods scientists used to determine the masses of the Earth, sun, Milky Way Galaxy and galactic clusters, Field summed his speech up by saying, "to put it very simply, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what the mass of the universe is."