Ted Kennedy wanted to be a prospector as a kid , so did Jean Claude sKerry.
Who'da thought these 2 would end up as US Senators? ;-)
Posted on 08/23/2007 7:36:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That's got them scratching their heads about what's just not there.
The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter.
It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday.
Astronomers have known for many years that there are patches in the universe where nobody's home.
In fact, one such place is practically a neighbor, a mere 2 million light years away. But what the Minnesota team discovered, using two different types of astronomical observations, is a void that's far bigger than scientists ever imagined.
"This is 1,000 times the volume of what we sort of expected to see in terms of a typical void," said Minnesota astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick, author of the paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal. "It's not clear that we have the right word yet ... This is too much of a surprise."
Rudnick was examining a sky survey from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which essentially takes radio pictures of a broad expanse of the universe. But one area of the universe had radio pictures indicating there was up to 45 percent less matter in that region, Rudnick said.
The rest of the matter in the radio pictures can be explained as stars and other cosmic structures between here and the void, which is about 5 to 10 billion light years away.
Rudnick then checked observations of cosmic microwave background radiation and found a cold spot. The only explanation, Rudnick said, is it's empty of matter.
It could also be a statistical freak of nature, but that's probably less likely than a giant void, said James Condon, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. He wasn't part of Rudnick's team but is following up on the research.
"It looks like something to be taken seriously," said Brent Tully, a University of Hawaii astronomer who wasn't part of this research but studies the void closer to Earth.
Tully said astronomers may eventually find a few cosmic structures in the void, but it would still be nearly empty.
Holes in the universe probably occur when the gravity from areas with bigger mass pull matter from less dense areas, Tully said. After 13 billion years "they are losing out in the battle to where there are larger concentrations of matter," he said.
Retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran said of the discovery: "This is incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it."
Bush’s fault.
Not even a restaurant?
The more we come to know, the more we should realize that we know very little about the universe.
It’s the ‘nothing’
Come on! There MUST be a Taco Bell there!
Bush’s fault.
Oh man,, Alright , you got it in..lol
patches in the universe where nobody’s home
That’s either a description of the DemocRatic Party and liberals in general, or what lurks between Pelosi and Reid’s ears.. for starters.
I used to sit next to a guy in HS choir, he was a deep thinker, smart as a whip and a nerd too, nice guy.
He used to enjoy talking about ‘nothing’ and that there still has to be something. He probably is working in some sort of scientific field.
NO services for next 1 billion light years.
“He probably is working in some sort of scientific field.”
Or Kinkos.
Sounds like a great place to send terrorists ...... now THAT is a prison .....
How about it is caused by Global Warming!
We have a starbucks across the street from another starbucks...
/boggle
Ted Kennedy wanted to be a prospector as a kid , so did Jean Claude sKerry.
Who'da thought these 2 would end up as US Senators? ;-)
No...the best thing for terrorists is just shoot them off on a one-way blastoff toward the sun. “Osama...it is sure getting hot in here...”
OOOOPPPPSSS... hold on, if the universe has been ever expanding since the Mythical big bang, how can there be an area that is defying physics and be void of stars, planets, etc?
Ok, well it could be Hell and we’ve just gotten a glimpse of it ...
GOD’s been busy...too busy to put anything in those spots yet....just wait a few million light years....
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