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NASA Announces Dark Matter Discovery
NASA ^ | Aug. 14, 2006 | Megan Watzke

Posted on 08/15/2006 9:45:42 AM PDT by zeugma

NASA Announces Dark Matter Discovery

Astronomers who used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 21, to announce how dark and normal matter have been forced apart in an extraordinarily energetic collision.

Reporters must call Megan Watzke at the Chandra Press Office at: 617- 496-7998 or e-mail: mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu for participation information. Shortly before the start of the briefing, images and graphics about the research will be posted at: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/1e0657/

Briefing participants:
- Maxim Markevitch, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
- Doug Clowe, postdoctoral fellow, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.
- Sean Carroll, assistant professor of physics, University of Chicago, Ill.

A video file about the discovery will air on NASA TV at noon, Aug. 21. Audio of the event will be streamed live on the Web at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chandra; darkmatter; nasa
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To: martin_fierro

I think Bob Ross's afro was made of up dark matter.


41 posted on 08/15/2006 10:32:20 AM PDT by reegs
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To: RebelBanker

All cats are grey in the dark matter.


42 posted on 08/15/2006 10:32:22 AM PDT by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: zeugma

bookmark!!!


43 posted on 08/15/2006 10:32:41 AM PDT by betty boop (The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. -J.B.S. Haldane)
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To: reegs
A question from the dunce in the corner: is dark matter the same as anti matter?

Nope.

44 posted on 08/15/2006 10:35:41 AM PDT by js1138 (Well I say there are some things we don't want to know! Important things!")
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To: reegs

Nope.


45 posted on 08/15/2006 10:36:05 AM PDT by orionblamblam (I'm interested in science and preventing its corruption, so here I am.)
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To: true_blue_texican
There is no such thing as Dark Matter or Dark Energy
any more than there is a Darth Vader

There is, however, a Dark Helmet...


46 posted on 08/15/2006 10:36:19 AM PDT by mikrofon (Spaceballs)
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To: zeugma

47 posted on 08/15/2006 10:36:29 AM PDT by Screamname (Batman and Godzilla : When will they fight?)
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To: reegs
A question from the dunce in the corner: is dark matter the same as anti matter?

Nope. Dark matter is a rather 'exotic' type of matter that has been proposed to explain (among other things) the fact that galaxies 'weigh' a heck of a lot more than they should if we take into account all the matter that we can observe. Dark matter may also have some repellant properties (I can see the jokes coming on this), due to the observation that the universe's expansion appears to be accelerating.

Antimatter is fairly straightforward stuff compared to 'dark matter'. We can produce small quantities (small being a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny microscopic speck) of antimatter in particle accelerators. To the best of my knowledge, dark matter has never actually been observed.

48 posted on 08/15/2006 10:38:10 AM PDT by zeugma (I reject your reality and substitute my own in its place. (http://www.zprc.org/))
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To: tomzz

If this stuff (dark matter) actually was 90% of the universe as claimed, all of us would be having to vacuum it up off our carpets daily.

___________________________________________________________

You mean you don't? Slob! :-)


49 posted on 08/15/2006 10:38:37 AM PDT by Rippin
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To: MHGinTN
String theory will likley prove to be somewhat the state of our reality, though perhaps not having 26 dimensions.

I found this recently. It's a flash presentation called "Imagining the Tenth Dimension". It describes 11 dimensions (numbered 0-10), and number ten seems to be the logical limit.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

50 posted on 08/15/2006 10:40:03 AM PDT by forsnax5 (The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.)
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51 posted on 08/15/2006 10:41:03 AM PDT by evets (08-22-06)
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To: zeugma

Huh? why wait till 8/21? The work was done sometime
before, I'm sure they redid the experiment to rule out
artifact..(i hope)...so why the wait?...
Or was it a mathematical model which assumes certain
facts...and could explain the bizarre results of
their experiment....
will wait to see information....then we will have
to worry about 8/22 (courtesy of Iran)...


52 posted on 08/15/2006 10:55:47 AM PDT by Getready (.)
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To: evets

How in the world do you find such things?!


53 posted on 08/15/2006 10:57:39 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: zeugma

Never mind, I thought it was Darth 'Mater.

54 posted on 08/15/2006 11:11:22 AM PDT by southlake_hoosier (.... One Nation, Under God.......)
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To: zeugma

Dark Matter?

I find it interesting how quantum physicists and string theorists keep getting more and more bizarre in order to explain themselves and stopgap problems with their theories. Strange, up, down, one-handed clap, 26 dimensions, electron probabilities that include orbitals from your eye to Jupiter (or the other side of the Universe and back), virtual particles, quantum orbital....and the list goes on.

Occam's Razor: All things being equal, the simplest solution is most likely.

Stochastic Electrodynamics (SED) is that simplest solution. It simply gives credit to two simple principles. 1) The universe is pure energy, and 2) E=mc^2 or more precisely E(e0,u0)=mc^2.

All SED states is that energy in its simplest form is electromagnetic waves, and zero-point energy (ZPE) is the ground state (QED recognizes this as well but excludes it from their equations since cannot be measured - even the measuring rod will contain the same ZPE. ZPE has received a bad rap lately because it has been used by bogus scientists to try to make bogus claims like cold fusion and endless energy sources).

Matter on the other hand is, using a simple analogy, like knots on a wound rubber band. Matter is a state of energy, balled up (simply speaking). Matter can disintegrate back into pure ZPE..

The amount of energy contained in matter is governed by the well know equation E=mc^2, which again is more precisely show as a function of the electric and magnetic constants (which are not constant in SED, explained later).

Like the knots that form on a rubber band, matter forms in very specific knots that we see as particles.

The formation of matter occurred during the high energy state at the beginning of the universe. As the universe expands the total energy spreads out and matter slowly over time reverts back to energy (we see this experimentally)

Unlike electromagnetic waves we're used to, ZPE is on what is called a plank length scale. It is fundamentally the lowest state of energy.

This is where it gets interesting. Imagine a large explosion. Energy proceeds from ground zero outward. At any point in time with the right equipment, one can measure the energy gradient with respect to time. As one approaches the leading shock wave (the event horizon) the energy gradient becomes asymptotic.

The universe is just such a model. In other words, if one could image an initial explosion (ie the big bang), high energy in the form of mass would expand. As the energy drops (ie as the event horizon expands) the energy level eventually approaches zero, and as it does matter eventually disintegrates back into pure energy. In local space, the rate of decay of particles is relatively slow (particles are not being formed as they would be in a very high energy density, and particle stability or equilibrium has long passed)

The point to notice is that along the energy gradient the energy density is not constant. Today QED cannot explain this since it would alter every constant known. Take Mu for example (see article http://www.nat.vu.nl/~wimu/Natconst.pdf), the ratio of the mass between a proton and an electron. This should be constant according to QED, but it is “now” observed to vary. Why?

The reason is QED is a special state of SED. In other words, SED is the macro view and QED is the micro view...on the scale of the universe.

A simple hydrogen atom, for example, has a single proton and a single electron. It is thought in QED that the electron orbits at a specific ground-state (give or take, for those looking to find fault, - Lamb shift and other minor variations). But that is because, until now, that is the way it is seen here on earth and as far as we could see with the spectral instrumentation we have.

But, "Old Photons Shed New Light". As we are now able to look out 12 billion light years and perform very precise spectral analysis, what we see is a shift in the ground-state of the hydrogen atom as if the predictable QED state is not as constant as we thought.

The reason for this is ZPE. ZPE density determines the ground-state of all atomic structure. It is not homogeneous along the density gradient. ZPE density is lower toward the center of the universe and higher toward the event horizon. Now instead of using only Lamb shift, and Doppler Shift to observe atomic spectra, a non-linear shift due to ZPE density must be used as well.

In theory, using this non-linear shifting, an XYZ coordinate system can be used to map the heavens (vs the relative system we use today with Doppler and red shifting).

So how does this fit into the discussion of Dark Matter? The answer is there really is only energy, ZPE and the particles formed by it. SED is physics that requires no exotic explanations. It is simply Classical Newtonian Mechanics at its finest that allows us to connect the dots between Relativity and QED without all the machinations, one-handed claps, Zen, Tao, or other bizarre mental gymnastics to figure it out.

Too bad so many lives depend financially on QED and its complexity (to fool) those that fund. Job security, higher education, and smooth talking elitists will keep science moving down the wrong path for years until this revolution replaces the old guard as has been done so many times in history.

55 posted on 08/15/2006 12:08:22 PM PDT by AMHN (Book Survey: Which is greater "Truth" or "Love"? FReepmail a reply)
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To: MHGinTN

How about polowise?


56 posted on 08/15/2006 12:11:24 PM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: zeugma
to announce how dark and normal matter have been forced apart in an extraordinarily energetic collision.

This pretty much describes what happens everytime I visit Taco Bell..

57 posted on 08/15/2006 12:11:48 PM PDT by IamConservative (Humility is not thinking less of oneself; humility is thinking about oneself less.)
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To: Dr. I. C. Spots

Bird flu found in mute swans, too.


58 posted on 08/15/2006 12:12:47 PM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: mikrofon

Robert Novak?


59 posted on 08/15/2006 12:13:33 PM PDT by doctor noe
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To: Old Professer

Are you referring to 'quantum flapdoodle' or the dark matter which occasionally hits the polo field?


60 posted on 08/15/2006 12:33:32 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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