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Empty Hole in Universe Discovered
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by ScienceDave | August 23, 2007 at 02:29 pm
2024 views | 42 Recommendations | 13 comments
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And its almost a billion light years across. A hint at the hole's existence first came in 2004, when astronomers measured an uncharacteristically cold spot in the area - a few millionths of a degree colder then the surrounding region. The cold spot was detected by measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation - the same energy remaining from the big bang and what causes your radio to vent static when going under a bridge or through a tunnel.
What caused this cold spot to occur is unknown, but the scientists have hypothesized it was formed a few hundred thousand years after the big bang.
"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick, along with Shea Brown and Liliya R. Williams, also of the University of Minnesota, reported their findings in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.Astronomers have known for years that, on large scales, the Universe has voids largely empty of matter. However, most of these voids are much smaller than the one found by Rudnick and his colleagues. In addition, the number of discovered voids decreases as the size increases.
"What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (13)
at 14:34 on August 23rd, 2007
nouseforadave, Good stuff Dave, it will be interesting to see if there is some application for the void in relation to the overall universe
at 14:35 on August 23rd, 2007
So, a patch of total nothingness, devoid of even the tiniest particles? How close do you think it is to zero Kelvin (the absolute nadir of heat, where activity ceases to take place)?
at 14:59 on August 23rd, 2007
Perhaps not devoid of EVERY litle particle, and if you read the press release they do state dark energy fills the void (the stuff that makes up a good 3/4 of the universe and is responsible for propelling the universe outward).
From what I understand (and if someone knows better, please correct me), attaining absolute zero is impossible, since all matter (dark matter included) interacts with the Higgs field (often referred to as the universal field which encompasses everything - particles will come into and out of existence through it) - thus producing a small amount of heat energy. I could be full of it though.
at 15:06 on August 23rd, 2007
No, you're right about not being able to attain absolute zero. A friend of mine is a low-temperature physicist, and he lamets the fact that the very act of introducing measurement instruments will create enough friction to raise the temperature above zero Kelvin, making it unattainable, or at least immeasurable. That must drive lo-temp physicists crazy.
at 15:18 on August 23rd, 2007
so is this where all my lost socks go?
at 15:26 on August 23rd, 2007
nouseforadave, as always very good stuff. thanks!
at 15:29 on August 23rd, 2007
A giant hole for a giant pile of garbage, perhaps?
at 15:32 on August 23rd, 2007
or old socks.
at 15:51 on August 23rd, 2007
As always, Dave, fascinating! I'll have to get my daughter, the aspiring astrophysicist, to try to explain the material to me!
at 17:55 on August 23rd, 2007
I hear you loud and clear. Chemists who measure extremely small amounts of various elements (I'm talking a single atom among a billion atoms) deal with the same problem - everything they do introduces contamination, so there is no way of exactly knowing the inital amount of stuff they are interested in within a reasonably small error.
at 18:16 on August 23rd, 2007
Dave, as always, good stuf. So they've finally found one of the worm holes!
at 20:10 on August 23rd, 2007
It all makes pefect sense to me, in my capacity of amateur alchemist. My own attempts to attain absolute zero elude me, though I believe it has a whole lot to do with the principle of perpetual motion, which I perfected last November.
at 12:37 on August 26th, 2007
I will give the Minnestoa boys kudos for making such an astronomical measurement from such an astronomical distance! How they achieved that will be better known when an equally accurate measurement is made from scientific assessment of the distance between the left and right aural receivers of homo-sapien scientist.