Huge Hole Found in the Universe

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Buddha12, Jul 5, 2012.

  1. markl323 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    166
    according to the people who discovered this, it does.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_flow

    "However, analyzing the three-year WMAP data using the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, the authors of the study found evidence of a "surprisingly coherent" 600–1000 km/s[1] flow of clusters toward a 20-degree patch of sky between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela."

    this is very peculiar. not much has been said since then, i wonder what happened.

    btw, when they said this is caused by materials outside the edge of the universe they referred to the visible universe.

    "The authors, Alexander Kashlinsky, F. Atrio-Barandela, D. Kocevski and H. Ebeling, suggest that the motion may be a remnant of the influence of no-longer-visible regions of the universe prior to inflation. Telescopes cannot see events earlier than about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe became transparent (the Cosmic Microwave Background); this corresponds to the particle horizon at a distance of about 46 billion (4.6×1010) light years. Since the matter causing the net motion in this proposal is outside this range, it would in a certain sense be outside our visible universe; however, it would still be in our past light cone."
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    is could be indeed! [subscribed]
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 27, 2012
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    Would any one like to comment on the veracity of the web site referred to in the above link..ie. can the information be trusted?
     
  8. OnlyMe Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,914
    I don't think anyone knows exactly what the data really represents. It seems to depend on how we interpret too many different things, that we cannot observe directly. Another related story, from National Geographic Dailey News, Unknown "Structures" Not Tugging on the Universe After All?, seems to present a different interpretation. The Nat Geo article did not have any imediately obvious reference, but it seems to be consistent with what I had heard previously. There remains some controversy, interpreting exactly what the data means.

    The only thing that seems certain is that there does appear to be some unexplained large scale comoslogical motion. The source, cause and exact nature, don't really seem to be something that can be conclusively pinned down.

    Many times how we interpret things like this depends on our basic understanding and convictions. We all, even "scientists"! too often fail to remember that we wear our own particular variety of rose colored glasses.
     
  9. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    It appears that the NatG article is really only disputing the difference between two sets of data with possibly over lapping error margins more than whether the phenonema is actual or not. "A degree of significance perhaps?"
     
  10. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,885
    I think that huge voids have been known to exist for decades. Perhaps this one is merely larger than those previously reported.

    Unfortunately, one needs an account with New Scientist to view the full story about the “Dark Flow at the edge of the universe.”

    The limited description available does not help much in understanding the issue & actually seems to omit some pertinent information.

    Surely The edge of the universe should be qualified as The edge of the observable universe. Note that our observable universe is slightly different from that of an observer in the Andromeda Galaxy & very different from that of observers in more distant galaxies.

    There are gravitational attractors which have been known for many decades. I do not understand what is special about the one referred to in this thread. Perhaps it is special due to a much larger number of moving galaxies compared to previously known galactic movements.

    Perhaps it is special due to the galaxies moving near the edge of our observable universe. I am not sure why this should be considered special: For observers in a distant galaxy, the movement would not be near the edge of their observable universe.

    As mentioned by a previous poster, the large void & the moving galaxies are two separate topics, perhaps deserving of being in two distinct threads.
     
  11. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    Suffice to note that two "expensive" teams of scientists have been involved in attempting to expose this issue either by way of validation [ confirmation ] or dispute.
    Hubble use time I would expect would be quite expensive and to utilise it at a "one galaxy per hour" rate [with upwards of 700 Galaxies sampled], as reported, would mean the cost of their research would be very high on both counts. [ even if they were able to improve efficiencies of their data collecting]
    If the situation was merely "another" mudane observation then a lot of money and time has been wasted. [which is highly unlikely]
    The sheer need to investigate and invest those resources is very telling of the extent of the motivation that someones "predictions" and "beliefs" are which has driven such an outlay.
    Given the ramifications these observations may have on the "Apocalyptic theorist" regarding the end of this year I am surprised to see this published in the press at all.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2012

Share This Page