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First map produced of universe 11 billion years ago
Yahoo! News ^ | 11/14/12 | Chris Wickham | Reuters

Posted on 11/14/2012 6:42:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge

LONDON (Reuters) - An international team of astronomers has produced the first map of the universe as it was 11 billion years ago, filling a gap between the Big Bang and the rapid expansion that followed.

The study, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, shows the universe went through a phase roughly three billion years after the Big Bang when expansion actually started to slow, before the force of so-called 'dark energy' kicked in and sent galaxies accelerating away from each other.

Much is known about the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang from studies of its afterglow in the cosmic background radiation, and its accelerating expansion over several billion years can be seen with a look at the way distant galaxies are moving.

"Only now are we finally seeing its adolescence... just before it underwent a growth spurt," said Mat Pieri at the University of Portsmouth in Britain, one of the authors of the study.

Little is known about dark energy, and its counterpart dark matter, but astronomers argue the force must exist to account for the speed at which the universe is expanding. Together, dark energy and dark matter are believed to make up about 96 percent of the universe.

The new study supports the theory that dark energy was somehow created as the universe expanded, by detailing a period when gravity was winning the tussle and slowing the expansion.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: bigbang; map; stringtheory; universe
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Apple will be putting out a new iPhone map version as soon as they get a new mapmaker hired.
1 posted on 11/14/2012 6:42:11 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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Reuters - An illustration showing how SDSS-III was able to measure the distant universe. Light rays from distant quasars (dots at left) are partially absorbed as they pass through clouds of intergalactic hydrogen gas (centrE). CREDIT: Zosia Rostomian, LBNL; Nic Ross, BOSS Lyman-alpha team, LBNL; and Springel et al, Virgo Consortium and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

2 posted on 11/14/2012 6:43:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: NormsRevenge

Now that’s an old map.


3 posted on 11/14/2012 6:44:46 PM PST by Defiant (If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)
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To: NormsRevenge

Union Cartographers?


4 posted on 11/14/2012 6:45:12 PM PST by mikrofon (Slightly out-of-date now)
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To: NormsRevenge

Look! There’s Nebraska!


5 posted on 11/14/2012 6:45:34 PM PST by theDentist (FUBO; qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: NormsRevenge

The headline makes it sound as if they found an 11 billion year old map. I’ll bet the paper is pretty brittle. :^)


6 posted on 11/14/2012 6:46:33 PM PST by mkmensinger
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To: NormsRevenge

I always look forward to reading these stories, but I wind up not understanding a darn thing they’re saying.


7 posted on 11/14/2012 6:58:42 PM PST by cydcharisse (`)
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To: NormsRevenge; SunkenCiv

I did not know the frst map was produced 11 billion years ago!


8 posted on 11/14/2012 7:00:00 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Defiant

The ink’s still drying.


9 posted on 11/14/2012 7:02:30 PM PST by relictele
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To: GeronL

The guy who made the map back then didn’t realize how old he was.

He was caught in one of those Vonnegutian Chrono Synclastic Infundibulum Thingys.


10 posted on 11/14/2012 7:06:06 PM PST by shibumi (Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Oh great! Now I can be lost in four dimensions.
11 posted on 11/14/2012 7:08:37 PM PST by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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To: shibumi

lol. Plausible!


12 posted on 11/14/2012 7:08:52 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: shibumi

So it goes.


13 posted on 11/14/2012 7:10:09 PM PST by CrazyIvan (Obama's birth certificate was found stapled to Soros's receipt.)
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To: NormsRevenge

In the beginning there were grapefruits. And then they exploded seeding the ——— which resulted in an expanding universe. Amazing stuff.


14 posted on 11/14/2012 7:13:30 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: cydcharisse

I wind up not understanding a darn thing they’re saying.

I hear ya. We have lost some sharp astronomical assets here over the years that could chime in.. but hopefully a few are still around that can help us out. ;-}


15 posted on 11/14/2012 7:14:55 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: shibumi

Vonnegutian Chrono Synclastic Infundibulum Thing. That explains it, thanks.


16 posted on 11/14/2012 7:17:48 PM PST by rdl6989 (January 20, 2013 The end of an error.)
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To: cydcharisse

Me too—I guess stuff like this is above my pay grade.....


17 posted on 11/14/2012 7:20:47 PM PST by basil (Second Amendment Sisters.org)
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To: jwalsh07

That theorem leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and tummy.. altho some believe that the known universe used to be a tiny little thing, no bigger than a pea or so.. so a grapefruit is not entirely out of the running. lol


18 posted on 11/14/2012 7:23:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: NormsRevenge

I hope they printed that map on a very large sheet of rubber, because the universe has expanded a lot in 11 billion years.


19 posted on 11/14/2012 7:24:33 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: NormsRevenge

20 posted on 11/14/2012 7:26:27 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio)
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