Intergalactic 'shot in the dark' shocks astronomers

Intergalactic 'shot in the dark' shocks astronomers

www.physorg.com

A team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic explosion that seems to have come from the middle of nowhere — thousands of light-years from the nearest galaxy-sized collection of stars, gas, and dust. This "shot in the dark" is surprising because the type of explosion, a long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB), is thought to be powered by the death of a massive star.

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Wow! I wonder what is going on there? The closest galaxy is almost 88,000 light years away, and there's practically nothing in form of gas or dust in the surrounding region.

What could it be? An alien spaceship blowing up? A Stargate wormhole power surge? The possibilities are endless...

www.physorg.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

That's very interesting.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the electric universe theory. It could be the simplest explanation as to the root cause of this, but I'm sure that some astrophysicists will come up with some complicated convoluted explanation involving dark matter that we (conveniently) cannot detect nor see.
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Originally posted by Gools
[...]but I'm sure that some astrophysicists will come up with some complicated convoluted explanation involving dark matter that we (conveniently) cannot detect nor see.

Now that you've mentioned that...

One possibility is that the star formed in the outskirts of an interacting galaxy, as seen in the famous Hubble Space Telescope picture of the "Tadpole" galaxy, UGC 10214. "In the local universe, about one percent of star formation happens in tidal tails, on the outskirts of two interacting galaxies," says Cenko. "So it might even make sense to find one in 100 gamma-ray bursts in such an environment."

If this idea is correct, it should be possible to detect the tidal tail hosting GRB 070125 by taking a long exposure with the Hubble Space Telescope. "That's definitely our next stop," says Cenko.

*Eagerly awaits for the Hubble data to come in*
*Still prefers my Stargate wormhole --SNAP-- idea*

i just watched the fifth element last night(a personal favorite) and the evil in the movie appears in the same way.

this has no real bearing on the subject, i just thought it to be a weird coincidence. QUICK! Let's get Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich to stop it!

this could be the key to the "dark matter" . 90% of the mass of the universe seems to be "missing" - and this new observation could lead to some explanations..

The first thought that came to my mind was, maybe it was another big bang. Maybe it is the start of another part of the universe much like the way our's started. Something from nothing?

I also wonder if it was anywhere near the largest void in space found.

Biggest void in space is 1 billion light years across

Food for thought.

I also wonder if it was anywhere near the largest void in space found.

Biggest void in space is 1 billion light years across

Food for thought.

"Void"?
Would that be as in "WE see nothing, ergo there is nothing"...?

(I am not making fun of YOU, by the way.)







[edit on 18-12-2007 by Vanitas]

reply to post by Vanitas

Um, it's right there in the link.

The void, which is nearly a billion light years across, is empty of both normal matter and dark matter.

They used radio telescopes to search cold spots on the WMAP.

Other than that, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.

reply to post by Hal9000


I had the same thought. However, I'd like to think that maybe it's an alien race testing some kind of technology.

Unfortunately I understand very little about what happens out in the vastness of space, but this strikes me as odd.

If there is 'nothing' there, I would, as others before me, suggest that one possiblility has to be that of ET's testing or using some kind of advanced technology.

Even if it something natural - it's still quite amazing that all of this energy can come from nowhere.

I hope it is some kind of ET activity (not that we'll ever know) but even if it can be explained otherwise, it's still very very cool though!

Interesting and infuriating!

I'm just going to sit here and believe it's some kind of ET testing or war going on, let the astrophysicists come out with more and more theories, each one more ridiculous than the last.

Whatever it is though, I'd love to find out, however unlikely that may be.

we, rather they (the astrophysicists) might have to revise the models of how fast Galaxies travel...

because if that GRB happened 9.4 billion years ago, according to article,

and the nearest Galaxy is some +88,000 light years distant from the GRB's center... it would mean that some massive magnetic Star
on a trailing fringe of a Galaxy exploded,

and structure formation in that region of space was radically different
from what they theorize today.


aliens that create pulsars which repeat in milliseconds and last for perhaps millions of years would be a more constructive display of that civilizations prowess.......
~as opposed to making an explosion in the midst of a void~
which would tend to make the explosion persist as a mystery,
to the many observers throughout the vastness of space.

My very first thought was that it could have been a rogue star, if we can have rogue planets can we not have rogue stars?

Thing you gotta remember here is this blast happened 9 billion years ago according to the source.

Now I'm a big advocate on the whole alien disclosure issue so you'll have no problem convincing me that ET exists but how long has the universe been around? Something like 13 billion years. I doubt there was much intelligent life in the early universe. Our solar system wasn't even created until after 8 billion years.

And the universe was naturally a lot more hostile back then so i think what we're looking at here has to be something natural.

Personally I'd go for the electric universe.

I would guess it's a star burning out. Maybe it's so far aways we could only see the explosion. I'm no space expert but how is it we can see explosions millions of light years away but we can't see the flag on the moon? I'm sure it's an easy answer, I just don't know it.

reply to post by JadePhoenix


Rogue stars -- they exist.
ENIGMA OF RUNAWAY STARS SOLVED

But the possibility that this is a runaway star is somewhat slim. The location of this GRB is 80,000 light years away from the nearest galaxy. Runaway stars are usually of the spectral class OB, so they're lifespans are rather short. It is unlikely that a runaway star could have achieved the velocities needed to arrive at the point in space the GRB was detected.

If the runaway star wasn't of the spectral class O, it wouldn't be large enough (under conventional theories) to produce a gamma ray burst.

Originally posted by dark_matter06
I'm no space expert but how is it we can see explosions millions of light years away but we can't see the flag on the moon? I'm sure it's an easy answer, I just don't know it.

It's the lens type and the frequency of the spectrum detected. When detecting stuff in deep space, astronomers use an infra-red telescope (because light at the edge of the visible universe gets red-shifted). Even so, they can still use a normal visible-light telescope, such as Hubble. They will just have to leave it on a longer exposure. As for the lens type, the principle is the same as trying to use a binoculars to look at microscopic objects -- it just isn't suitable.

I suppose you could theoretically look at the flag on the moon if you build the right lens for the scope. But then it wouldn't have much of a use other than looking at moon-rocks.

reply to post by Argos


You beat me to it!

We're looking 9 billion years into the past. The area could be full of matter, dark matter, etc., at present. I have to also agree we're essentially seeing the primative universe here so it's probably a naturally formed anomaly, and not the product from an alien entity.

2PacSade-

reply to post by dark_matter06


well looking into deep space with a telescope you can visually see thru with your eyes is impossible due to blur from dust debre in the way so they use radio telescope and listen to noise and infrared to see in other light spectrums like using night vision but you still have to ask yourself what spectrum of veiwing have we not tryed yet and would it make a difference in what we see or hear from blank spots in the universe you cant see the air you breathe but we know its there

lol, when I read "shot in the dark" and astronomers, the first thing that came to my mind was them seeing a great wall of fire, coming towards us (eg.: the big bang ''no longer expanding'' end of the world theory)

Oh well, I guess this is neat as well.

I'd say it's something natural, but that our theories or laws or w/e are just flawed.

Alternative possibility is that this is just like Strange Adventures in Infinite space, and soon our planet will be destroyed by alien flagship.