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##The Copernican principle

##Consequences

The Copernican principle

Consequences

• No redshift of sources beyond the Solar System, as $z=0$ when $c\to\infty$.

• As a consequence of the above Olber's paradox would no longer hold: the sky would be bright, as it would hold light from all of the objects in the (presumably infinite) universe.

• We would see distant galaxies as they are, not as they used to be.

• Gravitational waves would travel instantaneously fast, as they travel at the same speed as light - which is now, outside the Solar System, infinity.

What this means for science:

• We can no longer use distant supernovae to measure the expansion of space.
• We can't use the radial velocity method to detect exoplanets.
• Determining galactic rotation curves would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.
• Early-universe cosmology is suddenly almost impossible, as we can't see protogalaxies in the earliest stages of formation.

In other words, you can throw significant chunks of astronomy and cosmology right out the window - that is, if the infinite speed of light doesn't make things like stars and fusion impossible, and there's still an outside universe to observe.

• No redshift of sources beyond the Solar System, as $z=0$ when $c\to\infty$.

• As a consequence of the above Olber's paradox would no longer hold: the sky would be bright, as it would hold light from all of the objects in the (presumably infinite) universe.

• We would see distant galaxies as they are, not as they used to be.

• Gravitational waves would travel instantaneously fast, as they travel at the same speed as light - which is now, outside the Solar System, infinity.

• Spectroscopy is either out the window or severely modified. I'm not sure if you could build a self-consistent model of electromagnetism, let alone electronic or molecular transitions, so spectral lines are likely right out.

• Even in the event that lines are produced, most broadening mechanisms (e.g. pressure broadening, thermal broadening) and line diagnostics wouldn't exist because of the aforementioned lack of redshift and therefore the Doppler effect.

What this means for science, from an observational perspective:

• We can no longer use distant supernovae to measure the expansion of space.

• We can't use the radial velocity method to detect exoplanets.

• Determining galactic rotation curves would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.

• Early-universe cosmology is suddenly almost impossible, as we can't see protogalaxies in the earliest stages of formation.

• Without spectroscopy as we know it, determining the composition of celestial objects is extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible.

All of this is just the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg. In other words, you can throw the majority of astronomy and cosmology right out the window - that is, if the infinite speed of light doesn't make things like stars and fusion impossible, and there's still an outside universe to observe.

• No redshift of cosmological sources, as $z=0$ when $c\to\infty$.
• As a consequence of the above Olber's paradox would no longer hold: the sky would be bright, as it would hold light from all of the objects in the (presumably infinite) universe.

• No redshift of sources beyond the Solar System, as $z=0$ when $c\to\infty$.

• As a consequence of the above Olber's paradox would no longer hold: the sky would be bright, as it would hold light from all of the objects in the (presumably infinite) universe.

• We would see distant galaxies as they are, not as they used to be.

• Gravitational waves would travel instantaneously fast, as they travel at the same speed as light - which is now, outside the Solar System, infinity.

What this means for science:

• We can no longer use distant supernovae to measure the expansion of space.
• We can't use the radial velocity method to detect exoplanets.
• Determining galactic rotation curves would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.
• Early-universe cosmology is suddenly almost impossible, as we can't see protogalaxies in the earliest stages of formation.

In other words, you can throw significant chunks of astronomy and cosmology right out the window - that is, if the infinite speed of light doesn't make things like stars and fusion impossible, and there's still an outside universe to observe.