dark matter

the answer is always dark matter or dark energy

/reads article

WOOT!! I WIN

Can't wait to purchase my new dark matter/dark energy hybrid vehicle.

/Gamma rays from the exhaust could be a problem, though.
//Perfect response to tailgaters, though.

It comes from the gamma quadrant, duh

Does not approve.

namatad: dark matter

the answer is always dark matter or dark energy

/reads article

WOOT!! I WIN

Science: Our equations don't work. Must be dark matter or dark energy. Plug in "dark matter" or "dark energy". Yep, plug in this matter or energy we have no evidence of whatsoever, and our equations work!

That being said, knowledge is still a work in progress. Gotta figure it all out somehow, one step at a time.

If you want super high bandwidth you need to go to shorter wavelengths. I hope we learn the communications protocol soon.

No one on this planet has ever known what those objects are, so why is it scary now? It hasn't killed you so far.

Knows

Well, of course, since he's clearly a Saiyan. If he turns blonde, watch out.

WorldCitizen: namatad: dark matter

the answer is always dark matter or dark energy

/reads article

WOOT!! I WIN

Science: Our equations don't work. Must be dark matter or dark energy. Plug in "dark matter" or "dark energy". Yep, plug in this matter or energy we have no evidence of whatsoever, and our equations work!

That being said, knowledge is still a work in progress. Gotta figure it all out somehow, one step at a time.

science, esp physics, has done that kind of thing since day one. you dont have to understand how gravity works in order to use the equations.

"Estimated ratios of dark matter and dark energy (which may be the cosmological constant) in the universe. Dark energy now dominates the energy of the universe, in contrast to earlier epochs when it was insignificant."
Link (new window)

some day, someone in Einstein's league will provide a solution/theory/hypothesis which makes more sense, fits the data better, is simpler to understand and doesnt require dark stuff and science will move on.

ERGO AGW IS A LIE

gameshowhost: ERGO AGW IS A LIE

well cosmic rays make clouds and increased clouds change climates, so it is possible that these gamma rays sources are new!

PANIC!!!!
aliens are shooting gamma ray weapons at us!!!@1`3213413`1.......

Hector Remarkable: This is bad news...for man-in-the-moon marigolds.

Thank you.

"Fermi sees gamma rays coming from directions in the sky where there are no obvious objects likely to produce gamma rays,..."

It could just be too much caffeine.

I'm an astronomer who has a lot of friends who do gamma ray burst research so I'm getting a kick out of these replies etc...

No really, this isn't terribly surprising to those within the field at all. And even if you do know the source it's often a mystery- lots of GRBs are traced to pulsars and magnetars, for example, but while astronomers study the signals quite well we don't have the darndest clue as to what causes such pulsing and outbursts. Most people don't realize it.

/ always love how Farkers like to denounce dark matter and dark energy when given a moment
// and yet never tell you their idea for how galaxies don't fly apart or how the universe's expansion is accelerating

t3knomanser: Andromeda: and yet never tell you their idea for how galaxies don't fly apart or how the universe's expansion is accelerating

"Gravity works differently," is the explanation I usually hear. Because a force that clearly obeys the inverse square law across a wide variety of scales suddenly stops obeying it when you get to a sufficiently large scale, except when it does.

Of course, "dark matter" is just the placeholder name for the cause of unusual gravity behaviors, sooooo if they were correct, we would still have dark matter. We'd just know what it was- a different behavior of gravity at certain scales. A theory that's been tested and largely ruled out, but hey- why should the public actually learn science before they decide to claim that it's totally not true!

Yeah, the reason you hear so much about dark matter versus MOND (ie modified gravity) is because there is no theoretical testable model as yet proposed to explain it. So while it's a nice idea until you can make XYZ predictions on what astronomers can see there just isn't anyone jumping up in arms about it.

Dark matter is interesting because based on the current theoretical models we will know within the next 10 years whether it exists or not, hence we test the model quite a bit.

Dark energy no one has any idea what the hell it is, just that something must be out there to cause the observations we see.

the part which I have never understood or has never been explained to me is: the dark matter halo, found in galaxies.
it is estimated that the DMH makes up 95% of our galaxy. it is postulated that the DMH explains the rotation of our galaxy.

what I dont understand is how the DMH interacts with baryonic matter and causes the shape and rotation of galaxies, but the DM doesnt cluster in the center of galaxies? how does this work? how does the DMH not collapse under its own gravity?

anyone have a link?

Andromeda: and yet never tell you their idea for how galaxies don't fly apart or how the universe's expansion is accelerating

The Universe's expansion isn't known to be accelerating. What is known is that it WAS accelerating up to about 150,000 years ago.

For all we know, it's contracting again, and has been since before Rome's first lean-to was erected.

But if it IS still expanding and accelerating, then yes SOMETHING is doing it. And the nickname of that something is dark energy until we discover it properly.

Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.

/You got numb tongue?
//I can fix that.

doglover: The Universe's expansion isn't known to be accelerating. What is known is that it WAS accelerating up to about 150,000 years ago.

For all we know, it's contracting again, and has been since before Rome's first lean-to was erected.

But if it IS still expanding and accelerating, then yes SOMETHING is doing it. And the nickname of that something is dark energy until we discover it properly.

So what we really need is more up-to-the-minute measurements? Say, type Ia supernovae that are closer, maybe just a light-year away? Oh, sure, we'd all be sterilized by the gamma radiation, and go extinct, but hey, at least we'd eliminate any doubt in the figures. ;)

What's also known (at least according to Brian Schmidt's talk a couple nights ago) is that the expansion WAS decelerating in the early universe, then started accelerating.

/Doesn't like supernovae that are too close.
//That's why we call 'em "nearby" when they're 400 million light years away.