OperationEmber

Hello all! Total amateur astrophysics question here, so bear with me. But since I had heard about what's been called "The Great Attractor", I've been unable to shrug off the possibility that the universe may not be in a state of increasingly rapid expansion after all. My idea goes as follows: Because most astrophysicists have observed redshifting light being emitted from the vast majority of distant galaxies, most believe that the universe is in a state of expansion... However, there appears to be a huge fixed point in the observable universe where our local cluster and 'nearby' superclusters are racing towards -known as The Great Attractor... So, could we actually be observing an optical illusion? The illusion is what I'm calling the Universal Vertigo Effect -the name taken from a popular cinematography technique. Example: The Push/Pull (Vertigo) Effect - Examples and Practice In fact, we get an eerily similar effect if we take General Relativity into account, while approaching the speed of light: Special Relativity Simulator Essentially, this may not only account for the redshifting of most of our field of view, but also the blueshifting of a certain focal point (ie. The Great Attractor). Meaning that the universe may not necessarily be expanding; but may actually be contracting... Or we may simply be approaching the cosmological constant speed toward the focal point and we wouldn't be able to distinguish between an expanding or contracting universe either way. Let me know what you think, and thank you for taking the time to read my question! Cheers!