Slashdot Mirror
Universe Beige, not Turquoise
ChazeFroy writes: "The universe is actually beige, not turquoise. Researchers at John Hopkins University initially reported it was turquoise, but the software they used contained a flaw that implemented a non-standard white index to arrive at the mint chocolate chip green color." The other color was much nicer than this beige.
That's why it's the natural color for all computer cases!
... now I have to redecorate my apartment!
- Have a picture
...when she said "Beige, I think I'll paint the ceiling beige..."
The GIMP tells me that the colour of the universe is #FEF9E5 in hex. Now that's got to mean something :-p
42........ Nope doesn't work. Beige... hmmm
Even if it isn't as tasty...
though I've always been more of a butter pecan fan, so the beige is fine with me.
From a colour perspective, it makes much more sense than a shade of green. Every kid who's ever played with play-doh knows that if you mix a bit of this with a pinch of that to create new colours (which is essentially what you get from stars.. blue, red, green, yellow, etc), you eventually end up with that nasty brown lump of play-doh that ends up getting left under the couch for the dog to play with.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo - H. G. Wells
Before you may cross the bridge you must answer these questions three.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Johns Hopkins University.
Q: What is your professtion?
A: We are astronomers.
Q: What color is the Universe?
A:It's green... no, it's beige AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
Looks like it's an Intel universe after all...
Use Plank's constant to find out what the peak wavelength at 3 degrees Kelvin (the cosmic bg temp) is. This is the color of the Universe, as it is the color you "see" in all directions (if your eyes could see this wavelength, that is).
dinner: it's what's for beer
Johns Hopkins Researchers Say Universe Much Blander Than Before
It's nice to see a respected source as space.com using headlines that sound more like The Onion.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
...For a minute there I was worried! The universe was clashing with the sofa.
the question is not what color the universe is, but how to change it.
But most of the energy in the universe is NOT from the CMB. Remember the Stefan-Boltzmann law: energy per unit area goes like sigma T^4. 3 K is barely a blimp. The billions of stars in each of the billions of galaxies are at 1500 K or more (the sun is 5800 K, blue stars are hotter still). That T^4 comes in like a demon and means that most of the energy we perceive does NOT come from the CMB.
I like how the researcher says that he is open for suggestions on what to name the color as long as it isn't beige...
/. and the rest of the media shout, "The Universe is Beige!"
and then
The truth is more important than the facts.
-Frank Lloyd Wright
I'm glad they cleared that up. For a while, there, I was really worried.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
Funny how you didn't click all the links.
From Glazebrook's page:
"We admit the color of the Universe was something of a gimmick, to try and make our story on spectra more accessible. Nevertheless it is an actual calculable thing so we believe it is important to get it right."
And:
"Of course, our real motive for calculating the cosmic spectrum was really a lot more than producing these pretty color pictures. The color is interesting but in fact the cosmic spectrum is rich in detail and tells us a lot more about the history of star formation in the Universe. You may have noticed above that the cosmic spectrum contains dark lines and bright bands, these correspond to the characteristic emission and absorption of different elements."
So this actually reveals something about the makeup and history of the universe. Viola, science!
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
However, this isn't what you see from earth at all. Originally I thought they had simulated what would happen if you could "funnel" all the starlight on a dark night visible from Earth (or even outside our atmosphere) and created one beam from it. They've sort of done this, but in their model they've stopped the expansion of the universe and "corrected" the light to make it appear as if the universe is static and all those galaxies are not actually moving away from us.
So, I'm not sure what to make of this color - it's not one you'd ever actually see: it's not "real" in the sense you could measure it somewhere.
Please Rate my comment (and help support Fre
It makes sense - Dell's conspiracy grows deeper by the minute! Dude, you're getting a universe.
Go Kart Parts - Got to love driving with the ground an in
Hi this is Glazebrook here (honest!)
I am a regular slashdot reader for my sins. Finally an incentive to actually sign up.
I am amused to see the story got on the front pages this time, sorry that I had to be wrong to achieve this feat!
hope you all read the web page and about the science of starlight (and color!)
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~kgb/cosspec/
and it's much more complicated than 'averaging 3 numbers'. The color is a volume-averaged - deredshifted (otherwise it would not be very meaningful) sum of all starlight. Those of you with www skills will be able to track down the origin of the erroneous software I will not deprecate it here.
Karl
p.s. the color suggestions are poring in, my favorite so far is 'cosmic latte'
(reality distortion field takes effect)
Researcher 1: Hey, I think the universe is that greenish color.
Jobs: It's called Bondi, you twit!
Researcher 2: Nah, I think it's more bluish.
Jobs: (Jumping up and down furiously) AQUA! AQUA! AQUA!
Researcher 1: Let's just call it turquoise.
(after Jobs returns to Cupertino to plot his domination of the universe's color...)
Researcher 2: What the hell were we thinking? The universe is beige, not turquoise! Duh! We'd better change our report. What? 'It looks like you're trying to change the color of the universe?' Stupid paper clip.
According to the article, they took the colors from 200000 galaxies and averaged them to find beige. However, this does not take into account all of the empty space in between, which is an integral part of defining the universe. Perhaps they should go back to the simulation again, and add in an amount of black proportional to the volume of space in the universe not taken up by celestial bodies. Then we would know whether or not the human eye can really even see the universe, or if will just appear as nothing from a sufficiently large distance.
Uhhh, we made another mistake. After having reviewed our software yet another time, and fixing the error, we have determined that the universe is indeed invisible. Sorry to all of you attempting to paint your houses the color of the universe...
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
Here's an example of where averages mislead. The interesting thing about color is not the average, but the contrast between colors. Trust me; I'm renovating my house right now. Or trust anybody who's stared too much at the sun.