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As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered.
Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon "dark flow."
The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude.
When scientists talk about the observable universe, they don't just mean as far out as the eye, or even the most powerful telescope, can see. In fact there's a fundamental limit to how much of the universe we could ever observe, no matter how advanced our visual instruments. The universe is thought to have formed about 13.7 billion years ago. So even if light started travelling toward us immediately after the Big Bang, the farthest it could ever get is 13.7 billion light-years in distance. There may be parts of the universe that are farther away (we can't know how big the whole universe is), but we can't see farther than light could travel over the entire age of the universe.
When scientists talk about the observable universe, they don't just mean as far out as the eye, or even the most powerful telescope, can see. In fact there's a fundamental limit to how much of the universe we could ever observe, no matter how advanced our visual instruments.
The Bubble Universe / Andre Linde's Self Creating Universe
These are the theories discussed in class. The bubble universe concept involves creation of universes from the quantum foam of a "parent universe." On very small scales, the foam is frothing due to energy fluctuations. These fluctuations may create tiny bubbles and wormholes. If the energy fluctuation is not very large, a tiny bubble universe may form, experience some expansion like an inflating balloon, and then contract and disappear from existence. However, if the energy fluctuation is greater than a particular critical value, a tiny bubble universe forms from the parent universe, experiences long-term expansion, and allows matter and large-scale galactic structures to form.
The "self-creating" in Andre Linde's self-creating universe theory stems from the concept that each bubble or inflationary universe will sprout other bubble universes, which in turn, sprout more bubble universes. The universe we live in has a set of physical constants that seem tailor-made for the evolution of living things.
Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
*cough*plasma cosmology*cough*
Seriously, how many more "dark" things are these clowns going to "discover"? Every time they find something that isn't explained in their model they invent a dark, unobservable something or other and force fit it into their equations. What does it take to get these establishment guys to reexamine some of their basic assumptions?
Countdown to the arrival of Buddhasystem in 3, 2, 1...
[edit on 24-9-2008 by Orwells Ghost]
dark matter
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noun
Matter that emits little or no detectable radiation of its own, postulated to account for gravitational forces observed on astronomical objects and to be part of the missing mass.
Originally posted by drsmooth23
reply to post by Osama Bin Laden at Area 5
well i just threw a cat up into it, and a taco came out. dont get to excited, it didnt have any cheese on it.
Originally posted by Osama Bin Laden at Area 5
well how can i turn myself into a light being or highly charged nuetron
Originally posted by Ionized
It isn't dark matter, it is plasma. Gravity has little to do with it, electromagnetism has a lot to do with it.
I love how these things come as such a surprise to the mainstream, when it is not a surprise at all in plasma cosmology.