largest object in the universe raises questions

[varek]

The Hercules-Corona Borealis "Great Wall" is said to be the largest object in the observable universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules–Corona_Borealis_Great_Wall

Its existence may indicate the presence of a huge sheet of galaxies of matter connected (somehow) with dark matter.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'm pleased to see you still like wikipedia so much that you want to make a thread about every page you read.

 

[varek]

This article suggests this object might be part of a cosmic web, which reminded me of Brian Herbert's scifi series about the Timeweb. Interestingly, today--June 29--is his birthday! Happy birthday, Mr. Herbert!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Herbert

 

[gturner]

And here I thought the largest object in the universe was your mother.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm so mad at myself for laughing at that.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Where are the questions in the OP?

 

[iguana_tonante]

I guess the implied one is "Why am I reading this thread? I have really nothing better to do in my life?"

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Vladimir: That passed the time.
Estragon: It would have passed in any case.
Vladimir: Yes, but not so rapidly.

Estragon: Well, shall we go?
Vladimir: Yes, let's go. [They do not move.]

-- Waiting for Godot

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I like the way anything and everything in the universe that is even the LEAST bit unusual is believed to have something to do with (or is more proof of) dark matter.

Try substituting the words "Dark matter" and "Jesus" and see if this pragraph reads any differently:

The structure also poses a problem to the current models of the universe's evolution. In the standard model of the evolution of the universe, such structures as galaxy filaments form along and follow web-like strings of The Blood of Christ.[13] It is thought that Jesus dictates the structure of the Universe on the grandest of scales. Jesus gravitationally attracts baryonic matter, and it is this "normal" matter that astronomers see forming long, thin walls of super-galactic clusters. However, the structure is so big, so complex, and so massive to exist even under the standard models of the evolution of the universe. A light travel distance of 10 billion light years means that we see the structure as it was 10 billion years ago, or roughly 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang. Current models of the universe's evolution, however, do not allow the said structure to form in just a mere 3 billion years, since this is a very short time for Jesus to attract sufficient baryonic matter to create the giant structure. The structure is itself too big, and too complex, to exist so early in the universe. There is currently no existing model to explain the existence of the structure.

So the great wall must have been created by Satan.

 

[gturner]

I guess the implied one is "Why am I reading this thread? I have really nothing better to do in my life?"

Well, read this paper on how light might travel slightly below c because it could break into electron/positron pairs, possibly explaining the time delay in the photon arrival from supernova 1987A.

Then, for more fun, posit that the recombination of the electron/positron pairs does not always go smoothly, or that there is some brief interaction prior to recombination, in which a pair of low-energy photons are emitted in a direct line intersecting the pair (traveling in parallel) and in opposite directions, which would be perpendicular to the line of travel of the original photon. Since the paired photons are equal in energy and opposite in direction, the only effect on the photon formed after full recombination is a slight decrease in frequency, or red-shifting. This could make far away objects seem to be receding when they're not.

If the frequency of the pair of emitted photons was around 150 GHz, for example, the original photon would redshift by a good fraction of a nanometer.

The longer the original photon travels, the more of this gradual redshift would take place, filling the space between galaxies with a background microwave signal from the pairs of low energy photons being kicked out as high-energy photons get delayed and redshifted.

And we return to the rules according to Hoyle.

 

[Metryq]

So the great wall must have been created by Satan.

Better be careful there, Eddie. You'll be branded a heretic.

 

[iguana_tonante]

You know, if I ever were to miss stonester, you'd be a good substitute. You'll be harping about "priests in labcoats" any moment now.

Try substituting the words "Dark matter" and "Jesus" and see if this pragraph reads any differently:

I prefer substituting "dark matter" with "dark side of the force" and prance in the corridors of the observatory with my Sith Lord robe.

 

[publiusr]

Now I hear a lot about Dark Flow--is that in the direction of the great Wall-- or is that in the same direction as the big Cold Spot?

Now there is no center to the universe, we are told, in that both matter and space expanded during the big bang--then inflation.

But there had to be a moment when space grew a little more quickly, when all of the matter in the universe did have some sort of 3 D shape, back when the universe was at atmospheric pressure--I wonder when it was at room temperature--that must have been when Space Ghost flew around without a helmet

Now at that time, there may have been an center, and I wonder if that turned out to be a cold spot/texture.

 

[Silvercrest]

So the great wall must have been created by Satan.

Better be careful there, Eddie. You'll be branded a heretic.

Heretic, nothing. Crazy Eddie has posted the worst kind of blasphemy and I am highly offended.

You guys need to consider whose beliefs you trample over when you make that kind of statement. Sure, some of us have beliefs in things for which there is no proof or which transcend science. Well, so what? It's no reason to hold those beliefs up to mockery. That is just plain petty. And really unbecoming of people on this board. I thought some of you were above that.

The next time anyone makes a mockery of the Holy Doctrine of Dark Matter, I'm going straight to the mods.

 

[Australis]

I prefer substituting "dark matter" with "dark side of the force" and prance in the corridors of the observatory with my Sith Lord robe.

Now... there... is... an... iamge...

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The assumption of large-scale anisotropy might be flawed. If so, and space-time expands at different rates in different directions, it might be the reason for dark flow, dark energy, and the observed dipole component of the CMB.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...ul-ugly-truth-of-the-cosmos.html#.U7EN6_ldXuM

http://www2.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/~dlw24/universe/

 

[Robert Comsol]

I looked up this Wikipedia link and find it somewhat odd, to say the least:

"A giant Hubble mosaic of the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 using a combination of 18 images."

The significant amount of dark matter in this cluster, shown in light blue, may be also similar to the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall."

So the picture does actually show the aforementioned galaxy cluster, and not the "Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall"!

And "dark matter" is shown in color. I must have missed some exciting discoveries these past days.

Bob

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yeah, it's an extrapolation based on the distribution of the observable mass. You'd have to go to the original papers to see the assumptions that were used such as the ratio of baryonic to dark matter.

Axions, monopoles, Boltzmann brains, ... who knows?

 

[iguana_tonante]

And "dark matter" is shown in color. I must have missed some exciting discoveries these past days.

lol

 

[Crazy Eddie]

You know, if I ever were to miss stonester, you'd be a good substitute. You'll be harping about "priests in labcoats" any moment now.

Try substituting the words "Dark matter" and "Jesus" and see if this pragraph reads any differently:

I prefer substituting "dark matter" with "dark side of the force" and prance in the corridors of the observatory with my Sith Lord robe.

Mind = BLOWN!