Re: Astronomers Puzzled by Massive Blank Spot in Universe
- From: Jerry Kraus <jkraus_1999@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:18:57 -0700
On Aug 24, 6:46 am, "Patriot Games" <Patr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294359,00.html
Astronomers Puzzled by Massive Blank Spot in Universe
Friday, August 24, 2007
WASHINGTON - Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the
universe. That's got them scratching their heads about what's just not
there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking
black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years
across of nothing. That's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of
emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday.
Astronomers have known for many years that there are patches in the universe
where nobody's home. In fact, one such place is practically a neighbor, a
mere 2 million light years away. But what the Minnesota team discovered,
using two different types of astronomical observations, is a void that's far
bigger than scientists ever imagined.
"This is 1,000 times the volume of what we sort of expected to see in terms
of a typical void," said Minnesota astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick,
author of the paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal. "It's
not clear that we have the right word yet ... This is too much of a
surprise."
Rudnick was examining a sky survey from the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory, which essentially takes radio pictures of a broad expanse of
the universe. But one area of the universe had radio pictures indicating
there was up to 45 percent less matter in that region, Rudnick said.
The rest of the matter in the radio pictures can be explained as stars and
other cosmic structures between here and the void, which is about 5 to 10
billion light years away.
Rudnick then checked observations of cosmic microwave background radiation
and found a cold spot. The only explanation, Rudnick said, is it's empty of
matter.
It could also be a statistical freak of nature, but that's probably less
likely than a giant void, said James Condon, an astronomer at the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory. He wasn't part of Rudnick's team but is
following up on the research.
"It looks like something to be taken seriously," said Brent Tully, a
University of Hawaii astronomer who wasn't part of this research but studies
the void closer to Earth.
Tully said astronomers may eventually find a few cosmic structures in the
void, but it would still be nearly empty.
Holes in the universe probably occur when the gravity from areas with bigger
mass pull matter from less dense areas, Tully said. After 13 billion years
"they are losing out in the battle to where there are larger concentrations
of matter," he said.
Retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran said of the discovery: "This is
incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it."
It's called "Canada".
.
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- Astronomers Puzzled by Massive Blank Spot in Universe
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