Science Porn

[Mystical]

net rotation of the universe seems unlikely

IIRC, there are some theoretical reasons that inspired some observations that maybe sorta fail to show a net rotation

What is the latest skinny on a claim made 3-4 years back to effect that the sum total of the radial motion of all galaxies in the visible universe is not zero with respect to the CMB, thus implying the entire visible part of the universe is moving as a whole with respect to CMB?

^^ 
Thats what I was talking about.

[vorlon13]

I found this under Great Attractor on Wiki. Does it seem familiar ??

The Great Attractor is a gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space at the center of the Laniakea Supercluster that reveals the existence of a localised concentration of mass tens of thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way. This mass is observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. The Great Attractor is moving towards the Shapley Supercluster.[1]
These galaxies are all redshifted, in accordance with the Hubble Flow, indicating that they are receding relative to us and to each other, but the variations in their redshift are sufficient to reveal the existence of the anomaly. The variations in their redshifts are known as peculiar velocities, and cover a range from about +700 km/s to −700 km/s, depending on the angular deviation from the direction to the Great Attractor

[Anomalocaris]

I found this under Great Attractor on Wiki.  Does it seem familiar ??

The Great Attractor is a gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space at the center of the Laniakea Supercluster that reveals the existence of a localised concentration of mass tens of thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way. This mass is observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. The Great Attractor is moving towards the Shapley Supercluster.[1]
These galaxies are all redshifted, in accordance with the Hubble Flow, indicating that they are receding relative to us and to each other, but the variations in their redshift are sufficient to reveal the existence of the anomaly. The variations in their redshifts are known as peculiar velocities, and cover a range from about +700 km/s to −700 km/s, depending on the angular deviation from the direction to the Great Attractor

No.  The great attractor is still a local phenomenon, explicable by a local concentration of mass on the scale of hundreds of million light years.  The phenomenon announced 4-5 years ago suggest the entire visible universe, all 13 billion observational light years in every direction, has a collective motion relative to CMB.  Since any single source of gravitation formed after CMB would not have had enough time to make its gravity felt across the distance of entire visible universe, a gravitational explanation similar to the great attractor doesn't seem to work.   A suggested explanation was the phenomenon is not the result of any present interaction, but instead a relic of a pre-inflationary interaction betweem what would become our visible universe, and something in another party of the universe that was pushed out of our observation horizon during inflation.

[vorlon13]

Futurama touched on this possibility  . . .

[vorlon13]

[Mystical]

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[Mystical]

Well here's what I was referring to..

same in all directions). Thus, from our perspective, half of all spiral galaxies should spin clockwise, and half counter-clockwise. A recent analysis of the spin of spiral galaxies confirms this. The public classified over 35,000 spiral galaxies with spins both clockwise and counter-clockwise in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as part of the Galaxy Zoo project. Scientists published the results in a recent paper and found that the Universe is indeed isotropic - we see the same number of clockwise as counter-clockwise spirals (within the uncertainties)

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/physics...y-beginner

[vorlon13]

Early results from the first of 3 occultations of MU69 prior to New Horizons flyby are as follows:

object not detected

object likely smaller and brighter than anticipated

diameter could be in the 12 mile range

no secondary occulations noted, suggesting no rings or close in satellites

SOPHIA 100" telescope to attempt observation of 2nd occultatation

smaller size not expected to affect New Horizons ability to study the object

[Mystical]

Does that support at all the premise of being on the receiving end of a black hole perchance?

[vorlon13]

no, not really.

But even with the Hubble Space Telescope, predicting occultations retains an element of voodoo.

If the folks watching for it were spaced every 20 miles apart, and the shadow of MU69 as projected onto the surface of the earth was 12 miles across, it's conceivable the shadow slipped thru the 'picket fence' undetected.

As for the SOPHIA observation, ouch, they need to thread the needle essential perfectly. I don't know if the ground track of the next occultation can be refined from the results of the last one. Hope so . . . .