Space science contains big void - Astronomers admit they don't understand dark energy and matter

Mercury News ^ | 6/30/03 | Robert S. Boyd - Knight Ridder

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - In ``Star Wars,'' Darth Vader rules the ``dark side'' of a fantasy universe. In real life, astronomers are exploring the ``dark side'' of our own universe. They find it a mystifying place.

According to a batch of new reports published in a special ``Welcome to the Dark Side'' issue of the journal Science, most of the cosmos cannot be seen, even with the most powerful telescopes. All but a tiny fraction of creation consists of two exotic, invisible ingredients called ``dark energy'' and ``dark matter.''

[DannyTN]

Kind of makes you wonder if they really know what they think they know. How many of their models and theories seem to work but really miss key underlying concepts.

[longshadow]

Any of you guys get the feeling some of the quotes are slightly out of context?

[Aric2000]

Care to give me your professional opinion on this?

Thanks....

[nuconvert]

"Astronomers admit they don't understand dark energy and matter"

Wonder how they came up with the names if they're so in the dark?

[NormsRevenge]

As soon as I get a profession and a clue, I'll be more than happy to spill the beans on the dark forces in this here universe. ;-)

PS to All The links at the bottom of the article are broke, Im looking for replacement or undoctored links.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Cosmologists claiming they understood everything -- that would be REALLY bizarre.

[KevinDavis]

Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

[petuniasevan]

http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_matter.html

and

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dark_matter_021112.html

[RS]

I was thinking the same thing...

"``Cosmologists have no idea what the nature of the dark matter and the dark energy may be,'' Jordi Miralda-Escude, an astronomer

Then they go on to say what Cosmologists believe the nature of Dark Matter might be....

[NormsRevenge]

OK, The Space.com article link goes here , I Think .. More than meets the eye found in 3,000 galaxies by Robert Roy Britt

[Man_of_Reason]

"Some physicists theorize that a vacuum, like empty space, is actually a seething mass of unknown particles that continuously pop in and out of existence, creating pressure that drives the expansion of the universe."

Sounds like they're getting back to the ether theories.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for the links. 8-)

It's nice to know we are not alone. We just don't know who or what is out there.

[Rudder]

Cosmologists have no idea what the nature of the dark matter and the dark energy may be...

Finally, an article about nothing!

[Russell Scott]

Job 9
8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.

[Normal4me]

They don't know what Dark matter is yet it can weigh as much as 100 Trillion of our suns...? How'd they pull That one out of their @sses?

[NormsRevenge]

The Space Science section has a load of links for other articles like this and lots of other heavenly stuff as well.

Deep Space - Cosmology from Space.com

[nuconvert]

LOL! And what about these names? Dark matter, dark energy, black hole (worm hole was creative), naming things with numbers, etc.
Don't they have any imagination?
C'mon astronomers, think out of the dark, black box.

[Physicist]

Any of you guys get the feeling some of the quotes are slightly out of context?

The quotes are fine, but the tone of the article strikes me as wrong. It seems to give the impression that these discoveries are a problem for astronomers and physicists. In fact, we're absolutely delighted by them. Nothing excites us like new puzzles to solve. It's an opportunity to work on something new and interesting, an opportunity to learn, and for some, an opportunity to make names for themselves.

The clarion call of science is not the triumphant "Eureka!" of Archimedes, but the indignant "Who ordered that?!" of Isidor Isaac Rabi.

[Physicist]

They don't know what Dark matter is yet it can weigh as much as 100 Trillion of our suns...? How'd they pull That one out of their @sses?

Because gravity is proportional to mass, and gravity bends light. We can accurately measure the bending of light from distant sources, so we can accurately measure the intervening mass, even if we don't know just what it is. Pretty clever, huh?