                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2022 April 24

                             Split the Universe
                 Image Credit: NASA, Erwin Schrödinger's cat

   Explanation: Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes
   are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only
   one. A real-web version of the famous Schrödinger's cat experiment
   clicking the red button in the featured astronaut image should
   transform that image into a picture of the same astronaut holding one
   of two cats -- one living, or one dead. The timing of your click,
   combined with the wiring of your brain and the millisecond timing of
   your device, will all conspire together to create a result dominated,
   potentially, by the randomness of quantum mechanics. Some believe that
   your personally-initiated quantum decision will split the universe in
   two, and that both the live-cat and dead-cat universes exist in
   separate parts of a larger multiverse. Others believe that the result
   of your click will collapse the two possible universes into one -- in a
   way that could not have been predicted beforehand. Yet others believe
   that the universe is classically deterministic, so that by pressing the
   button you did not really split the universe, but just carried out an
   action predestined since time began. We at APOD believe that however
   silly you may feel clicking the red button, and regardless of the
   outcome, you should have a thought-provoking day. Or two.

                      Tomorrow's picture: great carina
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

