Aussie student finds universe's 'missing mass'

[abe10tiger]

SYDNEY (AFP) – A 22-year-old Australian university student has solved a problem which has puzzled astrophysicists for decades, discovering part of the so-called "missing mass" of the universe during her summer break.

 

[Archean]

By the way a week or so ago there was a scientific paper describing the existence of Dark Energy which constitutes 74% of the mass, and this has been confirmed after long experiments as well. Good time for astro physicists I guess

 

[Leeky]

"During her summer break"........... Einstein eat your sodding heart out! Wish I was that sodding genius during my "breaks" :haha:

 

[Benny26]

There has never been any confirmed capture of 'Dark Matter' (or Dark Energy) though, i think i'm right in saying?

I know they've got sites round the world that are deep down underground looking for it.

 

[Archean]

Well Benny as I earlier said the Dark Energy has been observed, so we can probably say with some assurance that it does exist.

 

[Benny26]

I know that one of the first arguments was the occolation of galaxys and how stars on the outer rim keep the same speed of the inner ones.

It is quite the oxymoron to say that it has been observed yet...

Dark energy has long been an unexplainable force, and the theory of its existence remains unproven...

Which is almost like saying "To observe something does not necessarily prove its existence".

 

[Archean]

I am not sure about the speed being same for outer rim stars as other stars. But as far as I know, their speed dictates the feeding behavior of the blackholes at the center of galaxies, i.e. the faster they are the more the blackhole needs to feed to push away everything else around it.

Anyway, if we use your logic, same applies to blackholes, we can't see them, but by 'observing' the behavior of stars at the center of the galaxies, we know they are there.

 

[Benny26]

Maybe the overall speed of a galaxy or indeed the overall mass, i'de agree, but as i read up abit here, blackholes and their gravitational impact cannot account for the unusual high velocitys of stars closer to the outer rim of galaxys (insert the Dark Matter theory).

I remember a TV show not long back about physics where physicists were asked "have you ever seen a blackhole?"....It turned out to be quite a confusing and amusing question for them.

 

[Archean]

I'll have to dig a bit to comment on 1st part of your reply, so that will come later.

But second part about seeing blackhole, Einstein predicted that 'halo' of a blackhole could be seen, and astrophysicists have been trying to see the same for many years.

 

[Benny26]

Archean said:
I'll have to dig a bit to comment on 1st part of your reply, so that will come later.

No probs bud...Physics and the cosmos are my favorite topics.

I presume the 'halo' you're talking about is the 'Event Horizon' (the point at which nothing, not even light, can escape a blackhole). I think at the moment are scopes just arnt powerfull enough to easily make them out, or the fact that these 'horizons' can be very faint and the closest blackhole to us is just abit too far to get a good look.

 

[superty12]

the closest blackhole to us is just abit too far to get a good look.

Which is a good thing.

 

[Archean]

General Relativity predicts, that a blackhole will not only create a dark shadow in space, but this shadow will be surrounded by a bright halo. The immense gravity of blackhole warps space around it, focusing star light coming from its behind into a ring. And this Einstein says can be seen, Prof. Shep Doeleman, at MIT with his team is actually working on this thing.

It took some digging as I couldn't remember the name of Prof. but I guess it is time well spent

 

[Benny26]

Indeed time well spent

Ah i see what you're referring to here; the "Einstein Ring" as it's known, caused by the gravitational lensing effect of a black hole. The phenomenon was first mentioned in 1924 by the St. Petersburg physicist Orest Chwolson, and quantified by Albert Einstein in 1936.

Apparently quite a few have been observed, most by accident. The Very Large Array (V.L.A) telescope, in New Mexico, is known for most of these observations.