Giant Void found in the Universe

[rxbandit]

[top]Gaping hole found in universe

Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:31PM EDT






WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A giant hole in the Universe is devoid of galaxies, stars and even lacks dark matter, astronomers said on Thursday.
The team at the University of Minnesota said the void is nearly a billion light-years across and they have no idea why it is there.
"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick.
Writing in the Astrophysical Journal, Rudnick and colleagues Shea Brown and Liliya Williams said they were examining a cold spot using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite, and found the giant hole.
"We already knew there was something different about this spot in the sky," Rudnick said. The region stood out as being colder in a survey of the Cosmic Microwave Background -- the faint radio buzz left over from the Big Bang that gave birth to the Universe.
"What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said in a statement.
The astronomers said the region even appeared to lack dark matter, which cannot be seen directly but is usually detected by measuring gravitational forces.
The void is in a region of sky in the constellation Eridanus, southwest of Orion.
The researchers have posted images on the Internet at www.nrao.edu/pr/2007/coldspot/graphics.shtml.



This discovery has implications in the way we look at the universe as a whole. It contradicts the model of the universe scientists have put together. Perhaps there is alot more to this universe then we could of imagined. This however poses a great mystery. Any thoughts?

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thanks for sharing, it is good to exhibit some other interests besides drugs on the site.

[Nature Boy]

That is quite astonishing.

[Heretic.Ape.]

wait, there's a link to see pictures of what an astronomical amount of nothing looks like? lol
this is very interesting though, it will be interesting to see what kind of theories pop up.

[Pondlife]

Here's a link to the original paper: http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0704/0704.0908v2.pdf

[chemlove]

Wow stunning is a good way to describe what i just looked at, it seems like for all their "intelligence" astronomers have one of those jobs where no matter how hard they try every couple of decades you can completely "re-write" the books on what our universe is or isn't. I love reading things like this because it makes you just open your eyes and be happy to be alive at this time

[BackToBasics]

Quite mind-blowing stuff..to get an idea of size, apparently a ray of light which travels at 186,300 miles a second would take nearly a billion years to cross it!

[grandbaby]

Breaking news on this front: Apparently the Great Void is composed entirely of prohibitionists' reasoning for the War on Drugs.

Sorry, back to regular programming. Thanks for the link.

[methMADMAN]

*Cue eerie music*

[augentier]

Wow, amazing..not sure if i'm seeing the picture ccorrectly..the void is surrounded by matter (galaxies, stars, etc etc..) ?? That's just strange to me..are there already theories popping up about this being the origin of the universe? Maybe it's GOD If you listen carefully you can hear it speaking

[Bajeda]

Originally Posted by grandbaby

Breaking news on this front: Apparently the Great Void is composed entirely of prohibitionists' reasoning for the War on Drugs.

Sorry, back to regular programming. Thanks for the link.

Can we put the prohibitionists in a rocket and shoot them into the void?

That way we could outfit the rocket with scientific instruments and collect data while simultaneously ridding the planet of a bunch of assholes. Its a win-win scenario!

[KBLSD]

Originally Posted by Bajeda

Can we put the prohibitionists in a rocket and shoot them into the void?

That way we could outfit the rocket with scientific instruments and collect data while simultaneously ridding the planet of a bunch of assholes. Its a win-win scenario!

i dont think all of them would fit

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by Bajeda

Can we put the prohibitionists in a rocket and shoot them into the void?

That way we could outfit the rocket with scientific instruments and collect data while simultaneously ridding the planet of a bunch of assholes. Its a win-win scenario!

Can we throw in creationists also? I'm sure it would be quite the eye-opening experience for them.

[Streak of Blue]

Interesting.

Just a "bubble", I guess....

[allyourbase]

Stoop not down unto the Darkly-Splendid World; wherein continually lieth a faithless Depth, and Hades wrapped in clouds, delighting in unintellible images, precipitous, winding, a black ever-rolling Abyss; ever espousing a Body unluminous, formless and void.

[Joe Duffy]

Wow, maybe it’s Gods brain!

[methMADMAN]

This is gods brain, or is this god's brain on drugs?

[rxbandit]

Maybe its the origin of the big bang... All the original mass that has spread from the big bang has left a vacant lot in its wake, perhaps it continues to grow in size as the universe expands outward from that focal point of nothingness.

Just a thought.

[Pondlife]

Originally Posted by rxbandit

Maybe its the origin of the big bang

No. Everywhere is the "middle of the big bang". Remember that the big bang was not an explosion in space; it created space, and at the beginning all of space was compressed into a tiny point (a singularity).

Having said that, the big bang is not necessarily the true picture of what happened; it's just the most successful theory we have so far. One thing I wonder is whether a void so vast is compatible with the big bang theory, especially the concept of inflation that was supposed to iron out all the wrinkles.

[Lunar Loops]

Fascinating stuff and it really emphasises how little we REALLY know. Theories will continue to be expounded by learned individuals and possibly even accepted as fact, but there's always that element of doubt. Most of what we firmly believe today could all be blown away by one startling discovery tomorrow......after all, isn't the world flat?


Our knowledge and understanding of the universe is shaky (at the very least).

Is this the real life, or is it fantasy...

[Nacumen]

Looks like we finally found a place to put all those greenhouse gases.

[allyourbase]

I still say The Void = Tucker Carlson