ASTRO 142 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Anthropic Principle, Inertial Frame Of Reference, Copernican Principle
Document Summary
Most of this chapter asks the question what is the basis on which we will build a model for the universe? identify some of the crucial elements in the model. The ancient greeks saw a universe built on geometry, a universe that was just as beautiful in its mathematical harmony as any mythological cosmology. The universe has neither a center nor an edge. The principle that the earth or the solar system does not occupy any special place in the universe is usually called the copernican principle which does not claim that no center exists; only that we are not located there. If we apply the copernican principle to state that we are not at a special location, then the universe must look more or less isotropic to all observers and must, therefore, be homogeneous. The anthropic principle is the observation that, since we exist, the conditions of the universe must be such as to permit life to exist.
