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We're Way Below Average! Astronomers Say Milky Way Resides In A Great Cosmic Void
Forbes ^ | 7 Jun, 2017 | Ethan Siegel

Posted on 06/08/2017 8:32:28 PM PDT by MtnClimber

If you went to give our cosmic address, you might tell someone that we lived on planet Earth, orbiting our Sun, on the outskirts of a spur of the Milky Way's spiral arms, in the second largest galaxy in our local group, about 50 million light years from the Virgo Cluster, embedded within the Laniakea supercluster. Well, you might have to add another line to that address, as Laniakia, along with dozens of other nearby giant clusters, is all embedded within a great cosmic void stretching a billion light years from end-to-end. This below-average region of space is consistent with everything we observe, supported by new observations presented at this week's American Astronomical Society meeting, and just might provide the solution to one of the Universe's greatest discrepancies.

On the largest scales, the Universe is uniform, with equal amounts of matter and energy everywhere. If you drew an imaginary sphere a few billion light years wide around any point and measured the total amount of mass inside, you'd get the same number everywhere, to about 99.99% accuracy. But if your sphere were smaller, you'd see you'd start to get different numbers in different locations. Gravitation pulls matter into filaments, groups and clusters of galaxies, and steals matter away from less dense regions, creating great cosmic voids.

Today, matter in the Universe is distributed like a combination of a spider web and swiss cheese. The "holes" in the Universe are stupendous, with some stretching tens of millions of light years across before you run into any galaxies at all.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
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To: UCANSEE2

Well, only the galaxy on the right has the right of way.


21 posted on 06/08/2017 10:18:31 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: MtnClimber

Also bear in mind that our poles “point” to specific regions of the milky way since our orbital plane is perpendicular to the galaxy orbital plane.

Our north pole points through the thickest portion through the galaxy center 80K light years to the opposite edge. Our south pole points to the nearer galaxy edge, around 35K light years away.

We need to be in a region of rare debris, for obvious reasons.

Check out the sky on a moonless night in a dark place such as northern Arizona. You are looking at a view as if you were travelling through interstellar space. There is nothing else to see.


22 posted on 06/08/2017 10:40:13 PM PDT by cicero2k
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To: Mr. Jeeves
We’re in the rural Nevada of the Universe

Considering what lives in the cites, unless suitably armed, that is a good thing and place to be.

23 posted on 06/08/2017 11:05:20 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: UCANSEE2
"With the abundance of ‘stars’ in the sky, one wonders why it is even dark at night."

Amazingly, when you are in a place that is truly "dark", the milky way is so bright, it casts a shadow. Most people in the USA have never seen truly dark skies. Many nights at sea, I've seen the milky way from horizon to horizon, but atop Mauna Kea on a new moon was the brightest I've seen it. Even when I camp in the high sierra or northern Idaho, it's not even close to that experience. Until relatively recently, our ancestors saw the milky way in all its glory on every moonless night.

24 posted on 06/08/2017 11:33:37 PM PDT by ETCM
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To: GraceG
Sometimes it’s good to be in the sticks....

Agreed! Gamma ray bursts can really ruin your day.

25 posted on 06/09/2017 3:23:07 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (In God We Trust, In Trump We Fix America)
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To: MtnClimber

The void surrounding us makes us unique. Located anywhere else, the beightness of surrounding galaxies would wash out our ability to see back into the early stages of our universe.


26 posted on 06/09/2017 3:33:18 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch (by reading this, you have collapsed my wave function. Thanks, pal.)
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To: ETCS

I live in Montana and am amazed still at how bright our night skies are compared to more populated areas. The Milky Way on a clear moonless night is spectacular.

When I travel I’m always a little taken aback at the lack of darkness in nighttime. there is so much ambient light bouncing around.

My backpack trip this year is to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. I went there for the first time last year and the night skies were magical.


27 posted on 06/09/2017 4:07:33 AM PDT by Comment Not Approved (When bureaucrats outlaw hunting, outlaws will hunt bureaucrats.)
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To: UCANSEE2

Somebody walks in to their insurance company office and sits down with their representative, and says, “Well, I know my insurance covers a zombie apocalypse, but do I have coverage in case of colliding with the Andromeda Galaxy?”


28 posted on 06/09/2017 4:51:27 AM PDT by Patriot777 ("When you see these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.")
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: MtnClimber

According to research carried out by Amy Barger’s team at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the void that contains our Milky Way is huge, spherical, and contains not only our own local supercluster but many superclusters beyond that. Although simulations predict voids ranging from tens of millions of light years up to a few billion, our measurements haven’t gotten good enough to measure the largest voids precisely. With a radius of roughly one billion light years, the void containing our Milky Way, known as the KBC void (for scientists Keenan, Barger, and Cowie), is the largest confirmed void in the Universe.

...

That’s because we’re rare and special.

The author is a flaming homo, so naturally he thinks of it as below average.


30 posted on 06/09/2017 7:23:36 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: vpintheak

A God who created everything, placed us in the perfect place in the universe. Fantastic!

...

Maybe our conscious existence created the Universe.


31 posted on 06/09/2017 7:33:27 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch

The void surrounding us makes us unique.

...

That’s a better way of thinking about it than saying we’re below average.


32 posted on 06/09/2017 7:44:23 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: MtnClimber

Maybe we are in a good neighborhood. We moved away from all the riffraff.


33 posted on 06/09/2017 8:53:46 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: MtnClimber

Who cares?


34 posted on 06/09/2017 8:55:11 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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