"Big Picture" of the Universe Confirmed --Einstein was Right (Of course)

 

          

 

“Our entire understanding of the Universe, even how we interpret the light we see from stars and galaxies, would be affected if the Universe were not even on large scales. By looking at how the WiggleZ galaxies are distributed in space on scales up to 930 million light years, we find that they are very close to homogeneous, meaning there is no large-scale clustering. So we can say with a high degree of certainty that our picture of the large-scale Universe is correct,” said Morag Scrimgeour of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

The current model is based on Einstein's equations assuming everything is smooth on the largest scales. If matter were instead clumpy on very large scales, then the entire model would need to be rethought.

This image above is a slice from a large simulation called 'GiggleZ' which complements the WiggleZ survey. It shows a snapshot of the large-scale matter distribution as studied in Morag Scrimgeour's research.

Cosmologists agree that on 'small' scales (tens of millions of light years), matter in the Universe is highly clustered. So the 'standard model' can only hold true if the Universe transitions to an even distribution of matter (homogeneity) on larger scales, irrespective of the viewing direction. However, some scientists have recently argued that the entire Universe never becomes homogenous, and that it is clustered on all scales, much like one of Mandelbrot's famous 'fractals' (a snowflake is a good example of a fractal). If the Universe has properties similar to a fractal, our description of space and time is wrong, and our understanding of things like Dark Energy is deeply flawed.

Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope, Ms Morag Scrimgeour has found that on distance scales larger than 350 million light years, matter is distributed extremely evenly, with little sign of fractal-like patterns.*“We used a survey called WiggleZ which contains more than 200,000 galaxies, and probes a cosmic volume of about 3 billion light years, cubed,” Ms Scrimgeour explains “This makes it the largest survey ever used for this type of measurement of the large scale Universe.”

This finding is extremely significant for cosmologists as it confirms that the tools being used to describe the Universe are the right tools for the job after all. Had evidence been found confirming large-scale fractals, it would have left cosmologists without a working model for the Universe, sending them back to the drawing board to painstakingly adjust theories.

ICRAR is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia providing research in the field of radio astronomy. ICRAR researchers are playing an important role in the design and ultimate success of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project.

 This project is part of 'The Dark Universe' theme of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO). For more information, please see www.caastro.org.

The  night-time photo below of the Anglo-Australian Telescope in central New South Wales during observations for the WiggleZ project. During this 10-minute exposure one of the team spelt out the survey name with a torch, while walking along the telescope catwalk 8 stories above the ground. In the background we can see dust and star clouds of the Milky Way galaxy (upper right) and our neighbor galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud (upper left). 

The Daily Galaxy via http://www.icrar.org

Image credits: ICRAR  and Michael Drinkwater (UQ) and David Woods (UBC)

Comments

[linda loughlin]

And no one beleived me either when I said it was a web matrix,now a web matrix fabic overlayed & "held together" by a greater" created web................

[Holo]

Complete utter liars !!! This is written to deceive the public and purport the phony big-bang dark matter missing gravity cosmology.
The universe is clumpy, with the majority of matter in the Zone of Avoidance, which is the plane aligned with our galaxy. All other studies show clumps, and the filamentary structure is fractal electromagnetism.
See correct interpretations at the Electric Universe, and at holographicGalaxy.blogspot.com

[smartypants]

I am sure this will jump back and forth a few more times in the next few years.

[babaloo]

holo, your website hurts my brain. those combinations of words are not sentences.

[Mephisto]

Holo: you are a loon... most of the matter concentrated in the zone of avoidance? ARE YOU BLOODY KIDDING ME MAN!?!?! you choose the only spot in the night sky where we can't see past as being proof of the universe being clumpy... good lord

[Holo]

you behind kissers don't know a thing

[Hamymac]

With a recent report that, if shrunk to the size of a beach ball, the sun would display variations in peaks and troughs on its surface of less than the breadth of a human hair, smoothness seems to be an interesting facet of universal physics.

[Matthew]

@ holo Don't mind the haters, its obvious that you're far more intelligent than that quack Albert Einstein. You have proven it, and now the world knows you're smart.

[ninth octave]

humm,aint it all relative? that picture looks like synaps of brain neurons...on the microscopic scale. on the cosmic level it looks the same...dark energy. is grey matter.or consciousness waiting to be absorbed by a big black hole so it can be excreted out into a white hole.thats when re creation starts over again

[Gaugain]

i don`t believe we`re in the position to say Einstein was right. Nor in the next 100 years form now.

[GalaxyDwarf]

Holo, its all in the presentation. Act like an ass and no one will pay attention. Even if proven right everyone will remember the "other" guy that said the same thing. That being said all you need now is a theory!

[Holo]

I've got plenty of great ones, with strong evidence supporting a fractal electromagnetic universe. others have always preceeded me. Einstein said the key to genius is hiding one's sources.I have shown myself smarter than Einstein, as Michael says, but everyone will listen and remember the others who got the credit.

[Johnny]

Holo, if it wasn't for your dumb attitude, maybe someone would take you more seriously? Ever thought of that. I am sure you are smart-ish, but not in some areas for sure. I mean, for example the way you communicate, and also your website is seriously bad. Pay someone to fix it as you apparently don't know how. Combined, you look and appear to be a hoax and internet troll. And on this site, you sadly act as a spammer probably just for the sake of attention and getting clicks to your website. All in all, you're hurting your image sorely. It could all be done in a much better and classier way.

On another note, I find the idea of an electric universe fascinating, even read a book on it. Yes only one book. I think the theories of the universe must not try to stand alone, instead unify them and realize that there might not just be one final theory that covers all aspects of the universe. We have no clue either way of how it all started.

[smartypants]

Johnny is absolutely right. Many of your post you act like a 12 year old. (Since you are really 10 you are probably going "YES!!!"). I have never read your site so I have no input on it. And never forget, I am the only one smarter than Einstein. ;)

[Holo]

smartypants and johnny are two queers who never mention science. They can only type ordinary words, and are behind kissers. I accept there are haters, because they are jealous and wish they knew so much and how a great website. Just yestersdar a famous scientist herself told me that he likes my website, and have a great analogy of a galaxy and a nanoparticle. My name might be on a nanocosmology paper, and you jerks expect to be taken seriously, when you say I need to hire someone to clean up my website?? The truth is that you gay fags here like johnny, smartypants, are spammers of trash. Manafesto is an idiot who doesn't know that the ZOA has 90 percent of the large-scale structures in the universe. Read your cosmology and then visit my website before you start criticizing my work and great theories.
HOLO

[smartypants]

Hahahaha, sorry for trying to help you bro. Looks like you have it all under control.

[ihumanity]

"If the Universe has properties similar to a fractal, our description of space and time is wrong, and our understanding of things like Dark Energy is deeply flawed." That's probably the most truth in this article. Strange that scientists think they have to sell the "truth"... when truth will always support itself.

[Holo]

We see how the gays smartypants and johnny seem to know each other. Johnny boy should try and make a website humself, and better than mine. I will improve my attitude with posts, and that's about all there is. Never thought anybody read this anyways who cared

[Johnny]

You're just confirming that everyone is right about you every time you respond. I wonder why you're even allowed ruin this fine website. Btw, I am a programmer and build websites for work. I will not even begin to try to prove myself to you. You're not worth it. If you respond again, you'll use even more profanity and faul language. No wonder you're not a public "scentist" then. You'd not be able to handle it. Grow up!

[Ruth Mc]

And with a few simple words, Holo's true self is revealed. Tho I think the 'lady' doth protest too much. Johnny, DG hasn't allowed him to ruin this fine website, no. They, in their wisdom, allowed him to dig a nice, big hole and stood back to see if he'd fall in! Quality entertainment, and educational too!