Cool science news this week. NASA has found direct evidence of dark matter. For a while it has been assumed that the universe is composed of 5% ordinary matter, about 25% dark matter and the rest dark energy. Finding evidence of dark matter has been difficult but thanks to scientists using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and gravitational lensing, the evidence has been found.
I’ll just put up a nice composite pic of optical, x-ray and dark matter images from the Bullet Cluster and let Sean Carroll explain it all.
*Sigh*
Awesome.
Yup. Awesome is the word.
Ain’t it great when science comes up with something stunning like this – something that was predicted by theory and eventually discovered empirically. And ain’t it beautiful? Who needs to have recourse to the idea of a god….
Cheers…
Ditto all the above.
Shaun, I’m not a scientist, but I remember reading an article by some Australian astronomers about the big bang and the nature of the universe in the Scientific American, I think. From memory they were saying that the expansion of the universe did not involve the movement of objects through space. Rather it involves the the expansion of space between the objects.
I can’t remember whether they said that this meant that objects could move away from each other faster than the speed of light. I guess you’d never know.
This would seem to have some relevance to the issue of dark energy.
Brian,
That is how I understand expansion of space as well. The distances between the objects become larger.
Some info on dark energy from Wiki that is relevant to the discussions:
There goes any notion of immortality.
“I am ashamed of my century
For being so entertaining
But I have to smile”
(Frank O’Hara)
So Shaun, let me try to get this straight. When the sun goes through its red giant phase the earth will look something like this.
And even if we escape to another planet in our galaxy or supercluster, we’ll be fried eventually.
So we can run but we can’t hide. At least we won’t end up cold and lonely as envisaged by Friedrich Nietzsche:
(Courtesy of Paul Monk.)
I think that is how it supposed to go Brian. Then the Earth will be become ashes and part of the Sun. A suggestion for Earth to avoid this fate is to move it.
Of course that is up to 7 billion years away. There is the question of whether anything resembling homo sapiens will still be around then.
Shaun, what I read indicated that there is a possibility that as the sun burns out and loses mass we might drift away. Doesn’t sound as though it would do us any good though.
I’ve understood that the y chromosome would do us in well before then, but it seems that rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Scientists,trying very very hard to study a CREATOR?,and yet it has already given,us poor ignorant people,their verdict,it all came to be in one “BIG BANG”and yet discovering grey or black masses.but according to what is written not sure of its begining,or its purpose.lots of questions remain to be answered with regards to the unknown,who knows the CREATOR may be watching,as they try to get rid of an unknown,but real QUANTITY,it may still produce many more surprises,as they delve into the grat unknown
THE GREAT UNKOWN?
“THE GREAT UNKOWN?”
Third time’s a charm, nutso. Is that the only mistake you wanted to fail to correct?
I don’t understand any of your points, Thomas.