Gigantic gaping void nearly a billion light-years across found in the Universe

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Baal

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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2329057520070823

Reuters said:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A giant hole in the Universe is devoid of galaxies, stars and even lacks dark matter, astronomers said on Thursday.

The team at the University of Minnesota said the void is nearly a billion light-years across and they have no idea why it is there.

"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick.

Writing in the Astrophysical Journal, Rudnick and colleagues Shea Brown and Liliya Williams said they were examining a cold spot using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite, and found the giant hole.

"We already knew there was something different about this spot in the sky," Rudnick said. The region stood out as being colder in a survey of the Cosmic Microwave Background -- the faint radio buzz left over from the Big Bang that gave birth to the Universe.

"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 in a statement.

The astronomers said the region even appeared to lack dark matter, which cannot be seen directly but is usually detected by measuring gravitational forces.

The void is in a region of sky in the constellation Eridanus, southwest of Orion.

The researchers have posted images on the Internet at www.nrao.edu/pr/2007/coldspot/graphics.shtml.
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Let's just avoid taking our HL2.net Starship through a wormhole and end up in the centre of it, and I think I'll we be alright.
 
Ever lost something? Your keys, your wallet, that sock with no partner? They end up here.

This is the void, the interminable expanse where all lost things go. It is a dark blot on the universe that draws in those objects that go missing--or perhaps, it causes them to be lost in the first place.

No one really understands the hole. Neither science nor religion can explain it. Was it created? Was it something left unfilled in the universe? Is it simply an anomaly? Do things find their way to it or are they drawn there? Is this void insentient, or does it seek out the wayward things with some cosmic intelligence? And if it is the latter, is it benign...or maleficent?

So now you know where things go when you lose them. The things that you could swear you know you set aside, that you were positive you left in that certain spot. They are gone now, forever from your reach. Be warned: it is said that the void does not only swallow items of little effect, such as keys and wallets and socks. Ever had a friend or relative you lost all contact with, someone who you wonder where they've gone and what they're up to, but you have no way of getting in touch with them? Someone that, for all intents and purposes, might as well have dropped off the face of the earth?

Be careful not to get lost.
 
Things like this boggle my mind.

I realized how little we actually know about the universe when I read in my Astronomy textbook that "Quasars are mysterious objects that are very bright."
 
I always get a little depressed when I think about it because as much as we know, its NOTHING compared to what we could.
 
So .. what happens if someone were to fly into it? TIME TRAVEL?
 
And what's at the edge of this void?

Reavers.
 
well, i assume its just devoid of "stuff", not like a black hole
 
GALACTUS

Galactus_close_up.jpg
 
dekstar said:
And what's at the edge of this void?

Reavers.
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Points for the reference.

This hole sounds awesome. If we ever inhabit space that far out I say we use this as a giant waste dump.
 
Smoke said:
Points for the reference.
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Ain't logical. Cuttin' on his own face, rapin' and murdering - Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight... or if he bothers me, or if there's a woman, or if I'm gettin' paid... mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. But these Reavers... last ten years they show up like the bogeyman from stories. Eatin' people alive? When's that get fun?
 
Ennui said:
Ain't logical. Cuttin' on his own face, rapin' and murdering - Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight... or if he bothers me, or if there's a woman, or if I'm gettin' paid... mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. But these Reavers... last ten years they show up like the bogeyman from stories. Eatin' people alive? When's that get fun?
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You lose points for trying too hard :p.

Anyway, on-topic. Is the void colder than the rest of space then? There's literally nothing there. Maybe that's where the universe started.
 
Heretic lies and deceit, dek. It is impossible to lose points from Firefly/Serenity references unless you aren't actually a fan.
 
dekstar said:
You lose points for trying too hard :p.

Anyway, on-topic. Is the void colder than the rest of space then? There's literally nothing there. Maybe that's where the universe started.
Click to expand...

Surley the reverse could be true? If the universe started there I would suspect a lot of "debris"
 
Smoke said:
Surley the reverse could be true? If the universe started there I would suspect a lot of "debris"
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Couldn't the explosion have thrown everything clear?

If you place a hand grenade in the middle of a pile of debris, it's going to throw everything clear from the point of explosion.
 
But the force moving out should suck things back in, like a wave, right?

I'm just speculationg that on a bigger scale many things would be drawn together.
 
Ennui said:
Heretic lies and deceit, dek. It is impossible to lose points from Firefly/Serenity references unless you aren't actually a fan.
Click to expand...
No one isn't a fan of Firefly, there are those just too stupid to get it. But fair enough, points returned!

Smoke said:
Surley the reverse could be true? If the universe started there I would suspect a lot of "debris"
Click to expand...
Well I dunno, if the blast was big enough, I would have thought there'd be an area where everything was pushed away from. Like the explosion of something like a nuke. In the immediate blast-area, there's bugger-all, and debris slowly piles up the further you go.
 
The creator of the universe pressed ctrl-n.
 
dekstar said:
No one isn't a fan of Firefly, there are those just too stupid to get it. But fair enough, points returned!


Well I dunno, if the blast was big enough, I would have thought there'd be an area where everything was pushed away from. Like the explosion of something like a nuke. In the immediate blast-area, there's bugger-all, and debris slowly piles up the further you go.
Click to expand...

Gravity piles things together in space though? D:
 
Smoke said:
Gravity piles things together in space though? D:
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Couldn't they pull together outside the circumference of what I believe should be a point of explosion?

They wouldn't necessarily have to come back to the centre of where the explosion occurred.
 
Ennui said:
Things like this boggle my mind.
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I love reading about these kinds of things. It makes everything we do and our lives seem very insignificant. Kind of like a reality check.
 
Qonfused said:
I love reading about these kinds of things. It makes everything we do and our lives seem very insignificant. Kind of like a reality check.
Click to expand...

The things we do in our lives are still very significant. Just because we make up a tiny part of the overall universe doesn't make it any less insignificant. Not everything has to be compared to the grand overall events of existence.
 
We are at once nothing and everything. Don't get into a philosophical discussion with me, you'll never escape.
 
Smoke said:
But the force moving out should suck things back in, like a wave, right?

I'm just speculationg that on a bigger scale many things would be drawn together.
Click to expand...


the big bang started from a singularity, when it exploded matter formed. the matter was accelerated away from that spot and caused some kind of "suction effect" (assisted with gravity) that sucked up everything. Since in space there is vacuum there is no need for pressure to fill that hole up.

picture this...you have a big pot in space and then you suck everything out of it. Theoretically would you need to close it? no...theoretically there is nothing to force it to fill it up again. So the earth analogy doesn't work in space.
 
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