90% of the Universe Found Hiding In Plain View 279
The Bad Astronomer writes "As much as 90% of previously hidden galaxies in the distant Universe have been found by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Previous surveys had looked for distant (10 billion light years away) galaxies by searching in a wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms — distant young galaxies should be blasting out this light, but very few were detected. The problem is that the ultraviolet light never gets out of the galaxies, so we never see them. In this new study, astronomers searched a different wavelength emitted by hydrogen, and voila, ten times as many galaxies could be seen, meaning 90% of them had been missed before."
In other words... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I Smell Another Apple Ad (Score:5, Funny)
Scientists' pledge. (Score:5, Funny)
Scientists on earth were said to be embarrassed by overlooking what had been there all along, and promised to never again take what they have for granted.
"It's like some crappy teen drama, and we just had to wait for the prom scene to realize how beautiful our soft-spoken nerdy friend is."
90% of the universe could not be reached for comment, as it decided itself too good for its unappreciative inattentive "friends" and went to the football players' afterparty.
Next step: a better name (Score:5, Funny)
The "Very Large Telescope?" Come on. We can do better than that. I suggest "Really Big Round Glass Thing for Seeing Further."
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:5, Funny)
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum when you put them in the washing machine. They emit no radiation, but exert gravity. It's especially grave when you can't find a matching pair.
Re:I Smell Another Apple Ad (Score:2, Funny)
90% of the Universe was discovered by thinking differently?
Hey, with a name like Very Large Telescope, something big was bound to happen.
Re:Not "90% of the Universe" (Score:3, Funny)
Merely 90% of the Visible Universe that we couldn't see before.
The Visible Universe probably constitutes a very small (perhaps even infinitesimally small) fraction of the actual physical Universe. The rest will, according to Relativity, always be hidden.
Not if we develop FTL traveler, it wont, you physics philistine!!! </shakes trekkie fist in anger>
Re:Implications for dark matter estimates? (Score:5, Funny)
More likely, a huge intellectual battle will break out among humankind, between the Dark Matter proponents and the Dark Matter deniers. Auditoriums full of angry people will hurl insults back and forth at each other, news stations will interview various scientific experts and political commentators in an effort to boost ratings, deniers will accuse the proponents of wanting to destroy the free-market universe and enslave humankind in some kind of subatomic socialism, while proponents will accuse the deniers of being selfish and greedy, willing to gamble the heat death of the entire universe just so they can run their colliders a little longer.
But that's just my prediction.
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Funny)
People are far too enamored with dark matter to bother reading the article.
Fixed that for you.
I really have no subject, never did, never will. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In other words... (Score:2, Funny)
It depends who you are. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Not "90% of the Universe" (Score:1, Funny)
The rest will, according to Relativity, always be hidden.
Thank, you, Mr. Shattner, for, your, sage, wisdom.
p.s. I think you should, according to grammarians, never be allowed to write English in a public forum.
Re:Implications for dark matter estimates? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I Smell Another Apple Ad (Score:5, Funny)
Shit, man... he had to change his liver!
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:4, Funny)
The socks don't escape through the washer. They escape through the dryer's lint trap. Eventually, after you've captured at least one socks-worth of lint, a sock somewhere in the world has to go "poof". (Note that it's not necessarily your sock, or your lint trap. It's a conservation-of-mass/quantum-lint-mechanics kind of thing.)
Re:Not "90% of the Universe" (Score:1, Funny)
No problem. Just post to German speaking forum. There your comma-placing would have been exactly right.
Packing Peanuts (Score:3, Funny)
I thought most of the missing mass of the Universe was tied up in the packing peanuts that are used in shipping the equipment scientists use to search for the missing mass in the universe.
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:4, Funny)
That's why I never clean my lint trap. If I don't look, then my socks don't disappear!
I've Seen This Before (Score:4, Funny)
"Hidden in plain view"? So what they are saying is that the universe exhibits the same behavior as my car keys.
Re:Next step: a better name (Score:2, Funny)
It is a "Raid of Really Big Rounded Optical Things for Seeing Further".
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:3, Funny)
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum
True. But one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics right now, just after the prevalence of matter over antimatter, is why it's always the left sock.
Some say the two are related.
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:4, Funny)
The lint that collects in your dryer is not made up of sock-matter. Dryer lint is mass created via the conversion of static electricity that accumulates while your dryer is running. If it weren't for the clever device to capture this energy and turn it into lint, running your dryer would cause an electrical discharge that makes a lightning bolt seem like a bee sting -- remember, E = mc^2.
The concundrum of missing socks remains unsolved, but the leading theory is that dark-matter socks spontaneously come into existence in your dryer, then meet your regular-matter socks, and puff out of existence with a corresponding release of a preposterous amount of energy (this, of course, is the source of energy that is converted into dryer-lint).
This theory is under fire, though, as a controlled study at the Institute for Laundering Science determined that socks sometimes disappear in the washer, not just the dryer -- explanation for what happens to the energy released in the dark/normal sock in the ashing cycle has not yet been determined.
Note also that this is why we wear dark socks to bed -- if we were to put them in the hamper with regular socks, the dark socks might come into contact with our light socks and explode.
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:2, Funny)
The missing mass is comprised of all the socks that have slipped through the spacetime continuum when you put them in the washing machine. They emit no radiation, but exert gravity. It's especially grave when you can't find a matching pair.
I've always held to the 'Sock Fairy' theory. It explains both the missing sock, and how the nickle that you hear bouncing around in the dryer got there.
Way to go (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Next step: a better name (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:4, Funny)
You've confused dark socks with anti-socks. Your theory fails.
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:4, Funny)
Slashdot readers never bother reading the article.
Pffftttt.... I didn't even bother reading the summary. Come to think of it, I don't think I looked at the headline either.
Er, but I'm guessing it was something to do with the seventh-generation iPhone. Anyway, whatever it was, I'm sure it'll be great- congratulations Steve, and all the Slashdotters dragging this thread offtopic rambling about astronomical nonsense should be ashamed of themselves.
Re:I Smell Another Apple Ad (Score:5, Funny)
I hate that. Just to make that stop happening I now search for at least 5 minutes after I find something.
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:2, Funny)
It is clear from your inane ramblings that you always en-sock your RIGHT foot first.
I, on the other hand, always en-sock my LEFT foot first. Doesn't take a rocket surgeon to deduce that it's my right socks that always go missing ...
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:3, Funny)
For example, right now I am down to exactly 4 pairs of black socks and about 15-20 pairs of white socks - right after I do my laundry. And I don't even remember the last time I bought white socks.
Maybe black socks mature into white socks? (and XKCD suggested that socks may be the larval stage of wire coat hangers...)
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:3, Funny)
You're just putting the left sock on your right foot.
Today I'm wearing two right socks because I lost the last of my left socks in the wash the other day.
Re:Deez Nuts are Hiding in Plain View (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Dark stuff? (Score:3, Funny)
Looks like my loony science idea bin needs re-stocking.
Re:Next step: a better name (Score:4, Funny)
Followed by the Ridiculously Large Telescope and the Ludicrously Large Telescope which, due to licensing and trademark issues, can ironically fit on your desk.
Spaceballs, the Telescope!
Re:Deez Nuts are Hiding in Plain View (Score:0, Funny)
Re:A Nice Step (Score:4, Funny)
No, I meant quantum leap as in literally a quantum leap.
An electron dropping from orbital L3 to L2 instead of L2 to L1 is exactly what sends out photons of a more detectable temperature.
...and hoping each time that its next orbital drop would be the drop home.
The remaining 10% is AOL disks. (Score:2, Funny)
it's all solved now.
how do they know that they've found 90%... (Score:2, Funny)
"Now! With 90% MORE Universe!"