Astronomers Find Enormous Gaping Hole in the Universe

Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:48 am » by **Marduk2012**

The Great Void in Space

Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.

"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick, along with Shea Brown and Liliya R. Williams, also of the University of Minnesota, reported their findings in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Astronomers have known for years that, on large scales, the Universe has voids largely empty of matter. However, most of these voids are much smaller than the one found by Rudnick and his colleagues. In addition, the number of discovered voids decreases as the size increases.

"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.

Sounds impressive!

http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/greatvoi.htm

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Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:19 am » by **Ph0enix**

I ALWAYS thought there had to be a black hole at the center of the universe... everything follows a pattern. everything oscilates around something else. the micro and macro mirror. we WILL find black holes in the microcosm too...

also... that is a HAWT sig...

Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:50 am » by **Theduck**

Yup an Yup cool sig.

Tue Jun 09, 2009 4:36 am » by **Crazynutsx**

its weird to think that a void can be that big and just full of nothing

interesting post cheers mate

Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:06 am » by **Snutz**

Reminds me of The Never-ending Story ....

THE NOTHING IS COMING!!

Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:48 pm » by **Crazynutsx**

never heard that one mate hahaha

Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:05 am » by **Marduk2012**

Is the Universe a Fractal?

Cosmologists are shocked by the recent discovery of a monstrous void of empty space spanning nearly a billion light years in diameter. The void ? the biggest ever observed ? challenges the standard picture of how structure has formed throughout the universe's history. No one's sure how big of a problem the void is for standard cosmology, but it certainly flies in the face of generic predictions. There is, however, a group of rebel physicists who did predict the existence of such a mind-bogglingly enormous structure. Detailing the ongoing debate between mainstream cosmologists, who assume that the large-scale universe is homogeneous, and a band of physicists led by Luciano Pietronero, who claim that the structure of the universe is fractal.

So here we are, with a void nearly a billion light-years across that is truly empty ? no stars, no dark matter. Does that mean that the universe is fractal? One observation isn't enough to support a definitive conclusion ? but it seems the fractal guys, who have long been shunned by the mainstream, deserve to be heard. The reason their ideas have been considered dangerous is that if the universe is fractal, it's back to the drawing board for all of cosmology. But if the voids are truly empty, the fractal claim requires a closer look."

http://pil.phys.uniroma1.it/twiki/bin/v ... Pietronero
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„Homo homini lupus est“

Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:14 am » by **Cornbread714**

crazynutsx wrote:its weird to think that a void can be that big and just full of nothing

I'm biting my tongue, biting my tongue, biting my tongue...

Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:20 am » by **Crazynutsx**

biting your tongue why ?

Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:38 am » by **Cornbread714**

crazynutsx wrote:biting your tongue why ?

I dunno, it just reminded me of something funny...

Anyway, what's up in your corner of the universe, Crazy?