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Hubble Builds 3D Dark Matter Map

Posted by timothy on from the turn-left-go-fast dept.

astroengine writes "Dark matter can't be spotted directly because it doesn't interact with electromagnetic radiation (i.e. it doesn't emit any radiation and reflects no light). However, its gravitational influence on space-time can bend light from its otherwise straight path (a phenomenon known as 'lensing'). Using a sophisticated algorithm to scan a comprehensive Hubble Space Telescope survey of the cosmos, astronomers have plotted a map of 'weak lensing' events. Combining this with red shift measurements from ground-based observatories, they've produced a strikingly colorful 3D map of the structure of dark matter."

5 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Your tax dollars at work... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: -1, Troll

    Phantom of the Opera. Great. NEXT!

  2. Re:Nice pretty picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ...especially when you consider it's a picture of something that very possibly doesn't even exist.

    Gotta wonder why those stupid physicists and astronomers believe in silly things like dark matter, especially when any Real American can see that it's bullshit in 30 seconds flat using nothing but common sense.

  3. Dark matter doesn't exist. by rollingcalf · · Score: -1, Troll

    Within a few decades it will be proven that neither dark matter nor dark energy exists; they're just hypotheses to fill the gaps between the observed behavior of the universe and our current understanding of the laws of physics.

    Once we have sufficiently explored the alternative gravitational theories that don't rely on dark energy or dark matter, and obtained a sufficiently improved grasp of the laws of physics, we'll be able to explain the cosmic observations without resorting to the "voodoo" of dark matter or dark energy.

    --
    ---------
    There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
    1. Re:Dark matter doesn't exist. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      It is a thankless and difficult task, and the people pursuing it deserve more than to be called arrogant by know-nothings.

      As opposed to those arrogant bastards known as climate "scientists", who are engaged in massive fraud based on their "models" which are much worse than economic models. Of course, economic models deal with human behavior, thus involving free will. Climate models deal with fundamental thermodynamics and radiative physics, which don't directly involve free will, and are therefore easier to construct and validate. But forget that! Climate models are bullshit! Climatologists are incompetent!

  4. Re:Zetarians? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    You know, at a certain point, one just has to say "what a jizz holding twat". Seriously.