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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 25 Oct, 2020 | Illustration Credit & Copyright: Tom Abel & Ralf Kaehler (KIPAC, SLAC), AMNH

Posted on 10/25/2020 2:32:54 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Is our universe haunted? It might look that way on this dark matter map. The gravity of unseen dark matter is the leading explanation for why galaxies rotate so fast, why galaxies orbit clusters so fast, why gravitational lenses so strongly deflect light, and why visible matter is distributed as it is both in the local universe and on the cosmic microwave background. The featured image from the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium previous Space Show Dark Universe highlights one example of how pervasive dark matter might haunt our universe. In this frame from a detailed computer simulation, complex filaments of dark matter, shown in black, are strewn about the universe like spider webs, while the relatively rare clumps of familiar baryonic matter are colored orange. These simulations are good statistical matches to astronomical observations. In what is perhaps a scarier turn of events, dark matter -- although quite strange and in an unknown form -- is no longer thought to be the strangest source of gravity in the universe. That honor now falls to dark energy, a more uniform source of repulsive gravity that seems to now dominate the expansion of the entire universe.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; darkenergy; darkforce; darkmatter; haltonarp; nasa; science; speedofdark; stringtheory
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.

1 posted on 10/25/2020 2:32:54 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 10/25/2020 2:33:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; Art in Idaho; AZ .44 MAG; ...

Pinging the APOD list.


3 posted on 10/25/2020 2:34:07 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

“Dark matter - though quite strange”

Don’t you listen to them, dark matter!

Be yourself!

Put ketchup on your corn flakes if that’s what you like!

Don’t let those nasty astronomers label you!


4 posted on 10/25/2020 2:51:29 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: blueunicorn6
And as for this slur:
“... uniform source of repulsive gravity...”
I personally find gravity quite attractive. Anyone who is repulsed by gravity in, indeed, going to find themselves in a Dark Place.

One morning my cat peed in my cornflakes. Is that anything like ketchup? It sure ruined my day, I can tell ya that.

5 posted on 10/25/2020 3:21:54 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."`)
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To: dayglored

The only dark matter is between their ears.


6 posted on 10/25/2020 3:27:01 PM PDT by bennowens
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To: MtnClimber

Black Matter Lives!


7 posted on 10/25/2020 3:27:54 PM PDT by beethovenfan (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Swordmaker

Cosmological thinking seems to be moving steadily towards Electric Universe theory. This artist’s rendering is similar to how I would imagine interstellar plasma tendrils to look (if they were visible).’


8 posted on 10/25/2020 3:34:12 PM PDT by misanthrope (Deranged, sinister, deplorable troll)
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To: MtnClimber; All

Appropriate image for Halloween.


9 posted on 10/25/2020 3:59:29 PM PDT by goldbux (No sufficiently rich interpreted language can represent its own semantics. -- Alfred Tarski, 1936)
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To: MtnClimber

Pic reminds me of a gigantic brain.


10 posted on 10/25/2020 4:08:54 PM PDT by AFB-XYZ (Option 1 -- stand up. Option 2 -- bend over.)
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To: 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...
Thanks MtnClimber.

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11 posted on 10/25/2020 6:04:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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