Skywarp! 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2004 From CNN.com: Galaxy find stirs Big Bang debate Thursday, January 8, 2004 Posted: 12:08 PM EST (1708 GMT) SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- An Australian-led team of scientists has discovered a new string of galaxies which they say challenges existing theories about the evolution of the universe. The team, using telescopes in Chile and in Australia, detected the galaxies about 10.8 billion light years away in a remote region of the universe, the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics said in a statement Thursday. With light traveling at 9.5 trillion kilometers in one light year, this means the galaxies are being observed as they appeared 10.8 billion years ago, the statement said. The universe was formed during the Big Bang about 3 billion years earlier -- 13.7 billion years ago -- so the find could give more clues about what went on in the universe when it was one-fifth of its present age. Thirty-seven of the brightest galaxies were detected, including a quasar, but thousands of galaxies were probably in the string, according to astronomer Dr Paul Francis who heads the team. But none of the existing computer simulation models were able to reproduce galaxy strings as large as the one the team found. "We are looking back four-fifths of the way to the beginning of the universe and the existence of this galaxy string will send astrophysicists around the world back to the drawing board to re-examine theories of the formation of the universe," Francis said. "The simulations tell us that you cannot take the matter in the early universe and line it up in strings this large. There simply hasn't been enough time since the Big Bang for it to form structures this colossal." The researchers -- who were funded by NASA and the Australian National University -- were refused the use of a telescope in the United States because the observations to be carried out were considered technically impossible by many American astronomers, the statement said. The team has presented its findings to the American Astronomical Society. Further surveys to map an area of the sky ten times greater than the team's observation are underway. This would provide a clearer picture of the large-scale structure, the statement said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BX 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2004 I've been a fool. Jesus, I'm coming back to you! /sarcasm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Salacious Crumb Report post Posted January 8, 2004 I never thought the theory carried much credibility. It's never really been discussed much in the science classes I take and when it is the prof seems to disregard it. The main problem I have with it is it breaks the laws of nature. In that the natural order of things seems to be order to chaos. I don't really see a big explosion creating the universe and creating all the proper distancing for say the Earth to be able to sustain life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2004 I've been a fool. Jesus, I'm coming back to you! /sarcasm Jesus: Sorry, I don't want you... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Goodear Report post Posted January 8, 2004 Not to mention the whole 'where did all the stuff that exploded come from' question. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
starvenger 0 Report post Posted January 8, 2004 I am shocked - SHOCKED - that we don't know everything about the universe yet... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Baron 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 A long time ago in a galaxy far far way.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caboose 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 Well colour me unsurprised. Hopefully now everyone will realise that the universe is just a marble around a cat's neck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2GOLD 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 Just knew it would be those bloody Austrailians that would complete ruin our way of life! That's it, BRING ME THE HEAD OF PAUL HOGAN! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tommytomlin 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 No man-made object can cut through the leathery hide of Paul Hogan's neck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swift Terror 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 On a semi-related note: http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pu...cespacemosaicdc Hubble Makes Mosaic of 10,000 Galaxies Updated 1:06 PM ET January 8, 2004 By Deborah Zabarenko ATLANTA (Reuters) - The newest camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has created an unprecedented image of a huge hunk of the sky, including at least 10,000 galaxies, which could help determine how our own Milky Way evolved, astronomers said on Thursday. The new mosaic is the largest color image ever made by the orbiting telescope, covering an area of the sky about the apparent size of the full moon. This may not sound big, but it is 150 times the size of images made by an earlier survey of galaxies known as the Hubble Deep Field image. In this case, the size of the picture is important, because narrow, if deep, images of the cosmos can give a misleading impression of what is out there. "Galaxies are incredibly diverse creatures," Shardha Jogee, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said at a news briefing. "You really need a large sample, otherwise your results get skewed." The new image, created with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, is a patchwork of 63 squares showing the area around the constellation Fornax (The Laboratory Furnace) in the southern hemisphere. Looking closely with high resolution, scientists found detailed pictures of some 10,000 galaxies, and expect there are thousands of other, fainter galaxies in the same field of view. Presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta, this research by an international group of scientists is meant to study how galaxies form. This is particularly important for those studying the Milky Way galaxy, which contains Earth, Jogee said. 'VIOLENT RELAXATION' Because earthly observers are sitting within the Milky Way, their vantage point is better for galaxies outside our own, which can be glimpsed in their entirety. The international team chose to make a mosaic of the field around Fornax because they already knew the distances to the 10,000 galaxies. By knowing the distances, astronomers could also know how long light had taken to get from them to the Hubble's camera, enabling them to see the galaxies as they were when the universe was about 4.5 billion years old. It is currently 13.7 billion years old. Jogee noted that most of the galaxies in the present-day universe -- more than 70 percent -- appear to be barred spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. These are pinwheel-shaped galaxies with elongated concentrations of stars that funnel gas to the center of the galaxy to fuel furious bursts of star formation. There are also unbarred spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies, which look smooth and round. The image also captured galactic mergers, in which stars experienced what astronomers call violent relaxation -- a sort of "stellar amnesia" when stars forget where they were in a galaxy before the merger. "By putting these different snapshots together, we could really piece together this big puzzle of galaxy evolution," Jogee said. The galaxy survey is known as GEMS, short for Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and Spectral energy distributions. Images are available online at http:/www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/bell/press_release/press.html. Fun fact of the day: The Soviets were the first to land a craft on the surface of Mars. It failed after 20 seconds. ('Mars 3' Orbiter, 1971.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skywarp! 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 I don't believe in the Big Bang, but it hasn't been "disproven" per se, the time frame is just scaled back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 9, 2004 Well colour me unsurprised. Hopefully now everyone will realise that the universe is just a marble around a cat's neck. No it's not. It's in a locker at a train station. Stupid... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
