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90% of the Universe Found Hiding In Plain View
The Bad Astronomer writes "As much as 90% of previously hidden galaxies in the distant Universe have been found by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Previous surveys had looked for distant (10 billion light years away) galaxies by searching in a wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms — distant young galaxies should be blasting out this light, but very few were detected. The problem is that the ultraviolet light never gets out of the galaxies, so we never see them. In this new study, astronomers searched a different wavelength emitted by hydrogen, and voila, ten times as many galaxies could be seen, meaning 90% of them had been missed before."
90% of the Universe was discovered by thinking differently? Steve Jobs just felt a tingle somewhere.
Anyone got any idea how this impacts our estimates of dark matter?
Does dark matter disappear or do we still need some hiding to explain things?
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If we only saw 10% of them before, how do we know we're seeing all of them this time?
...and this isn't the conclusion that I immediately jumped to - the discovery of dark matter. It's merely the discovery of the visible matter that they though should always be there.
Does this account for any missing mass and/or dark matter?
FTFA: "...this has nothing to do with dark matter."
Scientists on earth were said to be embarrassed by overlooking what had been there all along, and promised to never again take what they have for granted.
"It's like some crappy teen drama, and we just had to wait for the prom scene to realize how beautiful our soft-spoken nerdy friend is."
90% of the universe could not be reached for comment, as it decided itself too good for its unappreciative inattentive "friends" and went to the football players' afterparty.
Merely 90% of the Visible Universe that we couldn't see before.
The Visible Universe probably constitutes a very small (perhaps even infinitesimally small) fraction of the actual physical Universe. The rest will, according to Relativity, always be hidden.
Azural - instrumentals
People are far too enamored with dark matter. It is extremely frustrating having to place everything in the context of dark matter (often with only the most tenuous connection) when trying to explain interesting observations to the general public. The author of this article, thankfully, made it clear at the top of the article that it was NOT related to dark matter and went on to explain the observation.
The "Very Large Telescope?" Come on. We can do better than that. I suggest "Really Big Round Glass Thing for Seeing Further."
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
This has absolutely nothing do to with dark matter. So, yes it is a coincidence. And an approximation.
They're improving their technique for observing distant galaxies. Which doesn't in any way invalidate observations of (astronomically) very close galaxies. Which is what we base the existence of dark matter on.
Azural - instrumentals
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum when you put them in the washing machine. They emit no radiation, but exert gravity. It's especially grave when you can't find a matching pair.
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Actually, it is just a coincidence. This has nothing to do with dark matter or dark energy.
This is an observation of distant galaxies. The theory of dark matter comes from observations much closer to home, within this galaxy. It's designed to explain why the galaxy doesn't fall apart; it has too little matter for gravity to do it on its own.
Since then, other independent observations have confirmed that galaxies have more matter than we can see.
Dark energy is also completely different. It comes from the observation that the far-away galaxies appear to be accelerating. What they're observing here is mass, not motion. (Yeah, same thing, but only at really high speeds, and this isn't that, either.)
They're finding a lot more galaxies, which is great, but it doesn't in and of itself radically change anything about how we view the fundamental theories of physics.
I found one sitting on my sofa when I got home last night, eating Cheetos and watching Oprah. Damn thing was in my spot, too!
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The socks don't escape through the washer. They escape through the dryer's lint trap. Eventually, after you've captured at least one socks-worth of lint, a sock somewhere in the world has to go "poof". (Note that it's not necessarily your sock, or your lint trap. It's a conservation-of-mass/quantum-lint-mechanics kind of thing.)
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I thought most of the missing mass of the Universe was tied up in the packing peanuts that are used in shipping the equipment scientists use to search for the missing mass in the universe.
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That's why I never clean my lint trap. If I don't look, then my socks don't disappear!
"Hidden in plain view"? So what they are saying is that the universe exhibits the same behavior as my car keys.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Since we just got a 10 fold increase in galaxies.
I think that moves us from 0.006 to 0.06, (plus one obviously)
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Because estimates of the density of galaxies in the universe have been based on the volume that is closer to us and therefore relatively more visible, and did not suffer from the problem described. The assumption had been that the universe far away is, in a general manner, similar to the universe nearby, on the usual principle that there is nothing special about the place that we are. When the density of remote (and very early) galaxies fell off, it was assumed to be more likely to be an observational artefact than a genuine falling off. Which is what the article says has now been proved to be the case. Estimates of the number of galaxies were based on the bits we can see easily, not the bits we can hardly see.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
If a lint trap fills up in the forest, and there is no one there to clean it out, does a sock turn into dark matter?
SIG FAULT: Post index out of bounds.
So.... once we see the remaining 10% we will have reached the "end" of the universe?
Hope is the currency of fools
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum
True. But one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics right now, just after the prevalence of matter over antimatter, is why it's always the left sock.
Some say the two are related.
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Hogwash.
The lint that collects in your dryer is not made up of sock-matter. Dryer lint is mass created via the conversion of static electricity that accumulates while your dryer is running. If it weren't for the clever device to capture this energy and turn it into lint, running your dryer would cause an electrical discharge that makes a lightning bolt seem like a bee sting -- remember, E = mc^2.
The concundrum of missing socks remains unsolved, but the leading theory is that dark-matter socks spontaneously come into existence in your dryer, then meet your regular-matter socks, and puff out of existence with a corresponding release of a preposterous amount of energy (this, of course, is the source of energy that is converted into dryer-lint).
This theory is under fire, though, as a controlled study at the Institute for Laundering Science determined that socks sometimes disappear in the washer, not just the dryer -- explanation for what happens to the energy released in the dark/normal sock in the ashing cycle has not yet been determined.
Note also that this is why we wear dark socks to bed -- if we were to put them in the hamper with regular socks, the dark socks might come into contact with our light socks and explode.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum when you put them in the washing machine. They emit no radiation, but exert gravity. It's especially grave when you can't find a matching pair.
I've always held to the 'Sock Fairy' theory. It explains both the missing sock, and how the nickle that you hear bouncing around in the dryer got there.
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Shining some light on dark matter.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
So they found the dark matter? If so, this is astounding.
No. This is making the dark-matter theorists look bloody foolish. All those convoluted theories and reality distorting models are now rubbish.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
You've confused dark socks with anti-socks. Your theory fails.
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NO CARRIER
It's especially grave when you can't find a matching pair.
This is known as broken symmetry.
No, I meant quantum leap as in literally a quantum leap.
An electron dropping from orbital L3 to L2 instead of L2 to L1 is exactly what sends out photons of a more detectable temperature.
It is clear from your inane ramblings that you always en-sock your RIGHT foot first.
I, on the other hand, always en-sock my LEFT foot first. Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to deduce that it's my right socks that always go missing ...
char*f="char*f=%c%s%c;main(){printf(f,34,f,34);}";main(){printf(f,34,f,34);}
I have a similar problem.. but it only applies to dark socks. No matter how frequently I buy new black socks and how INfrequently I buy new white socks, I always end up with "not enough dark socks."
For example, right now I am down to exactly 4 pairs of black socks and about 15-20 pairs of white socks - right after I do my laundry. And I don't even remember the last time I bought white socks.
Maybe black socks mature into white socks? (and XKCD suggested that socks may be the larval stage of wire coat hangers...)
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You're just putting the left sock on your right foot.
Today I'm wearing two right socks because I lost the last of my left socks in the wash the other day.
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what kind of fucking retard tattoo's FIRST POST on their own cock?!?
... wait, what?
Aw darn.
Looks like my loony science idea bin needs re-stocking.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
This "90% of the universe" was assumed to be there and isn't contrary to dark matter. If it were proven that these galaxies did not, in fact, exist; well that would contradict much of known physics.
No, I meant quantum leap as in literally a quantum leap.
An electron dropping from orbital L3 to L2 instead of L2 to L1 is exactly what sends out photons of a more detectable temperature.
...and hoping each time that its next orbital drop would be the drop home.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
it's all solved now.
Table-ized A.I.
...'cause across the corner of the Hubble photo was a yellow banner that said:
"Now! With 90% MORE Universe!"
It is imprecise to say physicists indicate there should be much more mass in the universe. What they say is that there is mass missing in every galaxy which implies it is missing from the universe but only on a galaxy by galaxy basis. Dark matter is necessary to explain why galaxies form. In other words the "missing" matter is in each and every galaxy. Discovering more galaxies doesn't affect that issue.
When I was a physics major in the dark ages they were just beginning to notice that computer simulations based on observed stellar quantities and masses had the annoying property of never resulting in galaxies. In subsequent years it was computed that the needed mass for galaxy formation wasn't off by a little but actually by a huge factor.
Eventually some observations of gravitational lensing have provided more evidence that there was huge amounts of mass measured in this indirect fashion that was simply not seen by exhaustive charting of the observed stars.
I always thought that dark matter was a hack. "our numbers don't add up.. therefore 90% of the universe is a type of matter that has gravity but doesn't interact with the electromagnetic spectrum, or anything else, also there's none of it near earth, it's like the 90% that's far away." sounds good to me :-p