ESA Discovers Unexpected 'Haze' of Microwave Transmissions

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ESA Discovers Unexpected 'Haze' of Microwave Transmissions

Posted by Unknown on Monday February 13, 2012 @08:05PM from the god-chain-smokes dept.

astroengine writes "The European space observatory Planck has discovered something peculiar about our galaxy: it's humming in microwaves and, for the moment, the source of the 'hard' radiation surrounding the galaxy's core is a complete mystery. Also, the Milky Way is home to previously unknown 'islands' of cold carbon monoxide gas, helping astronomers uncover the distribution of star-forming regions."

17 of 69 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Wifi by Grindalf · 2012-02-13 20:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Earthings! We all use sci fi wi fi ... You may not question this! :0)

--
The purpose of existence is to make money.
1. Re:Wifi by Pieroxy · 2012-02-14 00:26 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  (In the cloud)
  - Hi there, can I take your order please?
  - I'd like a few billion humans. I'll take them medium-rare.
  - Thank you sir. Your order will be ready in a few millenia, the time for the interstellar microwave to cook'em.
  - Thanks! I'll be waiting outside.
  (We're warming up !)
  
  --
  Write boring code, not shiny code!
2. Re:Wifi by pla · 2012-02-14 07:25 · Score: 2
  
  Don't worry they're not screaming, that's just the air escaping as their atmosphere is boiled away.
  
  "But though you may find this slightly macabre...
  We prefer your extinction
  to the loss of our job"
It's all by bobstreo · 2012-02-13 20:24 · Score: 2, Funny

Burnt Popcorn.
1. Re:It's all by MickLinux · 2012-02-13 23:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Oh, no! I've been waiting for the galaxy to go `ding' . Do you mean to say I should have been counting the time between stars popping?
  
  --
  Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
Haze is not new by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-13 20:35 · Score: 5, Informative

Nice to see some new results from Planck, but the summary is a misleading (and the article itself too, to a lesser degree) when it comes to the haze. This haze was discovered by Planck's predecessor, the WMAP satellite - in fact, it is best known as the WMAP haze. It is true that its cause is unknown, though. People like to speculate that it might be due to annihilation of dark matter particles or other exotic physics, which would be exciting, but I'm partial to something more mundane, like more frequent supernova explosions near the center, as mentioned in the article.
1. Re:Haze is not new by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-13 21:45 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Thats the first time I've seen supernova described as "mundane"!
2. Re:Haze is not new by justforgetme · 2012-02-13 22:58 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, its a carbon "cloud" right?
  Like the ones old cars make?
  Maybe it's just exhaust of an intergalactic chevy camaro?
  
  --
  -- no sig today
"The Question" Answered. by FauxReal · 2012-02-13 20:46 · Score: 4, Funny

"Why are we here?" To think we finally know the answer to our origin... Our galaxy and everything in it is just some quick heat-n-eat snack for some celestial being. Now that's food for thought.

--
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
1. Re:"The Question" Answered. by jamiesan · 2012-02-14 02:06 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yes. We ARE Cthulhu's hot pocket.
If I am not mistaken ... by Taco+Cowboy · 2012-02-13 21:09 · Score: 2, Funny

... the answer is "42"

--
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Re:CBR by siddesu · 2012-02-13 22:21 · Score: 2

If it is galactic in origin, probably it doesn't - the cosmic background has a different origin.
Microwaves in space? by cvtan · 2012-02-14 00:52 · Score: 3, Funny

"To Serve Man" - It's a cookbook!

--
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
At the core by russotto · 2012-02-14 00:54 · Score: 3, Insightful

Didn't Larry Niven explain the reason for hard radiation from the center of the galaxy in his 1966 travelogue "At the Core"?
CO is all over the place in space by NixieBunny · 2012-02-14 03:55 · Score: 3, Interesting

I work at a telescope that does similar work. a couple weeks ago, we were doing some tests with the antenna pointed to fixed azimuth/elevation angles, which results in the telescope scanning the sky due to the Earth's rotation. We were watching the spectrum display, and saw many instances of strong (1 Kelvin or bigger) CO lines appear in thoroughly random places, perhaps 5% of the observing time. That's a lot of CO!

--
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
1. Re:CO is all over the place in space by steelfood · 2012-02-14 04:32 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  As if space wasn't inhospitable enough, now we find out you'll get CO poisoning if you breathe out there.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Galactic torrents by Walt+Dismal · 2012-02-14 10:20 · Score: 2

It was a mistake to tell the RIAA the microwaves are carrying pirated music. Now they're suing the galaxy to make them stop.
-- my IP address is ANDROMEDA, good luck, lawyers.