A bridge of hot gas is connecting two clusters of galaxies. Composite optical and X-ray image of the cluster pair Abell 222 and Abell 223.
Image Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/ MPE (A. Finoguenov)
Posted on 05/12/2008 7:05:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Astronomers have found a piece of the universe's puzzle that's been missing for awhile: a type of extremely hot, dense matter that is all but invisible to us.
Engaging in something like cosmic accounting, astronomers have tried to balance the scant amount of matter that has been directly observed with the vast amount that remains unobserved directly. The latter constitutes about 90 percent of the universe's matter.
Galaxies, the stars within them, the planet we live on and the chairs we sit on are made up of normal matter — the protons, electrons and neutrons that are collectively called baryons. Baryonic matter can be seen and directly observed, but it makes up only about 4 percent of the universe.
The rest of the universe is split up between dark matter (about 21 percent), a mysterious type of matter that has yet to be identified but that is thought to have played a critical role in the development of the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang, and the even more mysterious dark energy (about 75 percent of the universe), which causes the accelerated expansion of the universe.
Dark matter remains a total mystery. But the new study squares the balance sheet a bit in regards to baryonic matter.
Previously, only about half of the baryonic matter in the universe was accounted for by the known gas, stars and galaxies. A team of astrophysicists has now found evidence of part of the missing half in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies. The finding is detailed in the May 2008 issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters.
Along with dark matter, the missing baryonic matter is thought to form an enormous spider web of tendrils that connect galaxy clusters, which sit on threads and knots in the web.
The missing part of this matter was thought to be a hot, ultra-thin gas haze of very low density between larger structures. Its hellacious temperature means that it only emits far-ultraviolet and X-ray radiation.
Some of this missing matter was found by the astrophysicists, who hail from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the European Southern Observatory in Germany, as well as the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. The team used the XMM-Newton, an X-ray space observatory, to observe a filament connecting two clusters of galaxies, Abell 222 and Abell 223.
"So far we could only see the clusters, the dense knots of the web. Now we are starting to see the connecting wires of the immense cosmic spider web," said MPE study team member Aurora Simionescu of the discovery of this missing baryonic matter.
A similar baryonic haze, 150 times hotter than the sun's surface, was indirectly detected surrounding the Milky Way and connecting about three dozen other galaxies known collectively as the Local Group in 2003 by astronomers at Harvard and Ohio State Universities.
It is thought that these hot intergalactic hazes were created from material that did not fall into galaxies when they first formed more than 13 billion years ago. Finding and analyzing these filaments could help astronomers better understand what happened after the Big Bang and what forces are dominating the universe today.
Cool!
I wonder what the guy at the lost and found at Grand Central would do if you walked up to the counter and asked if anyone had turned in your missing cosmic matter?
***
How did they even know it was missing?
I wonder if they will ever find the missing matter inside the liberal brain?
Because there it was- gone!
“Engaging in something like cosmic accounting...”
Are these Government workers? ;)
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics
http://www.mpe.mpg.de/main.html
Hope they find the missing Bill and Hillary files.
Stupid question time.
Why haven't these hot gases cooled off in the last few billion years, if they're in intergalactic space far from energy sources?
A bridge of hot gas is connecting two clusters of galaxies. Composite optical and X-ray image of the cluster pair Abell 222 and Abell 223.
Image Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/ EPIC/ ESO (J. Dietrich)/ SRON (N. Werner)/ MPE (A. Finoguenov)
Sooooooo what the hell is keeping the old (13 billion years) baryonic haze perking at 150 times hotter than the sun's surface all this time?
XMM-Newton discovers part of missing matter in the universe
European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMQLPZXUFF_index_0.html
They're behind the sofa. ;-)
Well...sheesh...then they should be able to find Osama bin Laden...right?
A similar baryonic haze, 150 times hotter than the sun's surface, was indirectly detected surrounding the Milky Way
Puzzling
What keeps this ultra-thin gas haze of very low density so hot for 13 billion years?
One would think that only fusion could do this. But Physics as I understand it would require enormous pressures to sustain fusion reaction. Such pressures do not exist in the vacuum of space.
There must be physics at work here that we do not understand. Once we do I think our energy crisis is over.
If that were the case the sofa would be 2 feet into the room by now. But thanks for the suggestion ggg.
I would think that only the missing matter in galactic halos are hot, and the "fillaments" between galaxies cooler. According to the simulations its like a big cobweb, with galaxies forming at the intersections. 
That can only mean that....somewhere...there's a giant inter-galactic sized SPIDER!!!!
It also means that ....somewhere... there's giant inter-galactic sized BUGS!!!
DOUBLE
Allegra is working around the clock on that!
I'm having some success on that, although I have not completely cracked the code yet.
It has something to do with Evil Clothes Dryers, though.
And I suspect that they don't just want our socks...they have grand plans to over the world.
One sock at a time.
Beware.
Yesterday upon the star
I saw a web that wasn’t thar
It wasn’t thar again today
What does it matter anyway?
I just cleaned out my garage, so I have a spot where we can store the missing baryonic matter. Send it on over.
I do have a theory on this and it may help you with your research.
1st. Sock have an finite lifespan. They are only good for so many cycles in a dryer and that’s it. Unfortunately, no one knows what that number is and it is different for each individual sock.
2nd. There is no such thing as lint. Lint does not exist in the known universe and no clothing item releases lint. HOWEVER,....
When that poor defenseless sock which has already survived it’s final dryer cycle we still cold-heartedly thow it in the dryer that one last time and....POOOF!!!! It turns into this pure fibrus substance that we unwittingly call “lint”.
So in fact the missing sock was there all the time. It was just in a new form in the lint filter.
Sandy Berger was only taking it home to ‘look at’. He was going to bring it back the next day, honestly.
I want to believe.
First describe the definition of temperature and the ordinary mechanisms of cooling.
Then the answer may become clearer.
Hint: T, R, and V.
Photon emission too.
Cheers!
Are you saying that the heat does not really exist?
What could be generating that much X-ray radiation to cause that much heat? A Blackhole?
That's my question. How could this matter stay SO hot in inter-galactic space?
Not sure. I was waiting for someone to provide the answer.
Radioastronomer could have handled easy it but he was banned.
I bet it was right where he left it, next to my car keys. Could be he re-traced his steps, did he remember where he was the last time he dad it?
Have you ever noticed that socks do that disappearing thing more frequently when sunspot activity is high?
Cell phone transmissions getting wonky? Radio coming in kind of funny? Count the socks.
Saying that it’s hot (a million degrees) is actually a little misleading. The material is so diffuse that the average temperature of space is really only a fraction of a degree. Interstellar emission nebulas do the same thing: they can absorb high-frequency radiation from nearby stars, which heats up the individual atoms proportionally to the wavelength, but the actual energy is small since there is only a few atoms in a cubic centimeter. Now with a star or planet, temperature is much more significant because there’s a lot of mass...
"Previously, only about half of the baryonic matter in the universe was accounted for by the known gas, stars and galaxies. A team of astrophysicists has now found evidence of part of the missing half in a bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies."
More surprised mainstream cosmologists... sounds like an electrical plasma to me.
If you want on or off the Electric Universe Ping List, Freepmail me.
GOOD question. How about electricity?
I don't think he could. These filaments connecting galaxies are a surprise to mainstream cosmologists. Nothing in their gravity powered, neutral charge universe theories can account for it. The Electrical Universe Cosmologists have been predicting and looking for just such a discovery.
That bottom picture looks just like an illustration of the synaptic connections in the brain.
My sister went to skool to be a cosmotologist. She got a free electrical plasma hair dryer for enrolling. She's a blonde
Tumbolia
Temperature is the measure of the kinetic energy of a substance. A fast-moving or vibrating atom or molecule has a higher temperature than a slower one. Heat, OTOH, is a product of the temperature of a substance and the mass of it; essentially it is a measurement of an amount of energy. So, then, a quart of water at 50 deg C. has the same temperature as a teaspoon of water at that temperature, but only a small percentage of the heat.
A single atom moving at a high rate of speed in a vacumn won't drop in temperature or give up heat because there's nothing for it to collide with and thus nothing to transfer energy to. It doesn't just slow down; that would violate inertia. It could lose heat if it's electrons drop their orbitals to a ground state and it thereby gives off a photon, but after a very small fraction of that 13 billion years they're all already in a ground state so that's not going to happen anymore.
Whereas the water we are talking about hits the sides of the container, which hits the atmosphere, or your hand, and loses energy. That's felt as heat and measured as temperature.
The threads of gas they are talking about are so thin that the atoms/molecules in it are unlikely to hit anything else for billions of years. So they stay incredibly hot. But you'd have a hell of a time absorbing any heat from the gas even if you drove the Enterprise right through it (or Firefly if you prefer). Not enough of it hits the ship to transfer any appreciable amount of energy. It can be measured by the scientists because there's so much of it, and the energies that it does absorb and give off can be detected and measured.
Vacuum. No conduction of heat. Think REALLY LARGE Nissan Stainless.
If we’re the brain cells I guess it’s up to us to tell him to take an aspirin and get that edema under control.
bump
For real? I wasn't aware of that.
Also, something seems out of sync: Why is it when I go searching around the web for some information on plasma(s) I find several articles crediting plasma(s) with making up 90+% of the universe, and the authors of this article are still looking??? Looking for something that has already been found? Color me confused!
Seriously, that was a great explanation.
Now here is a sci-fi postulation for space travel. In the future, when we understand the physics better, these "threads" (baryonic not FR) will be the highways between galaxies allowing warp speed travel over light year distances. /wild eyed speculation
from 2001:
“The forces that hold a sponge, a spider web and a brain together in the shape they have are all electromagnetic,” Møller said...
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/spongy_universe_010522-2.html
The Sun is an ELECTRICALLY INERT BODY dontcha know...and you’re an HERETIC LOL!
That’s so pessmistic. These baryonic threads will act like rubber bands snapping everything back to the center. ;^)
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