Astronomy Picture of the Day 8-20-02

NASA ^ | 8-20-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 August 20

The Universe in Hot Gas
Credit & Copyright: James Wadsley (McMaster U.) et al.

Explanation: Where is most of the normal matter in the Universe? Recent observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory confirm that it is in hot gas filaments strewn throughout the universe. "Normal matter" refers to known elements and familiar fundamental particles. Previously, the amount of normal matter predicted by the physics of the early universe exceeded the normal matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and so was observationally unaccounted for. The Chandra observations found evidence for the massive and hot intergalactic medium filaments by noting a slight dimming in distant quasar X-rays likely caused by hot gas absorption. The above image derives from a computer simulation showing an expected typical distribution of hot gas in a huge slice of the universe 2.7 billion light-years across and 0.3 billion light years thick. The distribution of much more abundant dark matter likely mimics the normal matter, although the composition of the dark matter remains mysterious. Both the distribution and the nature of the even more abundant dark energy also remain unknown.

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

This is the golden age of astronomy. Take the image above, for instance: computer simulations, only a dream a few short years ago, help greatly with understanding the dynamics and complexities of the universe around us.

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[petuniasevan]

Modern Art Science!

[sleavelessinseattle]

Quantum Filamentous Homage to APOD! Somewhere out there is
a mathematician that can come up with the fractal equation to represent this reality...Hope he/she is a terrestrial human and does it before I'm too senescent to understand the "cosmology for dummies" abstract!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

[2Trievers]

Fractal architecture to information flow path results in spatiotemporal integration of signals so that the fractal system responds as a unified whole to a multitude of input signals. Two disparate examples for such self-organized information flow networks are atmospheric flows and the neural networks of the human brain. So has Ron Pearson been occupied with something else lately? &;-)

[BossyRoofer]

TRULY INSPIREING! When flow paths are mentioned it makes you ponder if cosmic jet streams exist and if debris moved much like weather systems are on earth.

[RightWhale]

computer simulations

See also Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science." Big, heavy book, have just begun reading it. Wolfram developed Mathematica.