The Universe is going flat...

[Seth]

Did the universe's biggest thorn cause the universe's biggest puncture, and does this mean the universe is deflating? Are we just the inner tube of an infinite bicycle?

Mysterious 'supervoid' in space is largest object ever discovered, scientists claim
A supervoid has been discovered in the universe which is too big to fit into current models
A strange empty hole has been found in the universe
A strange empty hole has been found in the universe
Sarah Knapton

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor

7:09PM BST 20 Apr 2015

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Astronomers have discovered a curious empty section of space which is missing around 10,000 galaxies.

The ‘supervoid’, which is 1.8 billion light-years across, is the largest known structure ever discovered in the universe but scientists are baffled about what it is and why it is so barren.

It sits in a region of space which is much colder than other parts of the universe and although it is not a vacuum, it seems to have around 20 per cent less matter than other regions.

Although the Big Bang theory allows for areas that are cooler and hotter, the size of the void does not fit with predicted models. Simply put, it is too big to exist.

István Szapudi, of University of Hawaii at Manoa, described the object as possibly “the largest individual structure ever identified by humanity”.

It was picked up using Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) telescope located on Haleakala, Maui, and Nasa’s Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite.

Mars may hold liquid water raising hopes of alien life

The latest study suggests that the ‘supervoid’ may be draining energy from light travelling through, which is why the area around it is so cold.

Getting through such a big hole takes hundreds of millions of years, even at the speed of light, and photons of light slow down as they cross because the universe – and therefore the void - is continually expanding.

However the scientists claim that the void can only account for around 10 per cent the temperature drop in the cold spot.

“It just pushed the explanation one layer deeper,” said Dr Roberto Trotta, a cosmologist at Imperial College London.

Dark matter may not be completely dark after all

The supervoid is only about 3 billion light-years away from Earth, a relatively short distance in the cosmic scheme of things.

“Supervoids are not entirely empty, they’re under-dense,” said András Kovács, a co-author at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

“This is the greatest supervoid ever discovered. Given the combination of size and emptiness, our supervoid is still a very rare event. We can only expect a few supervoids this big in the observable universe.”

The researchers report their findings in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

[cronus]

The embryo in the egg. The big city where the smart aliens live. Nothing more.

[mistermack]

I'm sure that the explanation is in the bible, if only these fools would care to look. Maybe the Lord did a day's overtime, and said, ''let there be voids''.

[Seth]

I'm sure that the explanation is in the bible, if only these fools would care to look. Maybe the Lord did a day's overtime, and said, ''let there be voids''.

Maybe that's where God lives...and he doesn't care for the neighbors....

[jamest]

Did the universe's biggest thorn cause the universe's biggest puncture, and does this mean the universe is deflating? Are we just the inner tube of an infinite bicycle?

You cannot have an infinite bicycle, since a bike cannot be a bike unless it has definite [and therefore] finite form.

The same principle applies to the notion of a definite but infinite universe: impossible. Existential definiteness and an infinity [of physical substance/spacetime] are oxymorons, since existential definiteness necessarily imposes finite modes of being upon any and all physical realities.

[JimC]

I want an infinite bicycle, and I want it now!

[pErvinalia]

You need to wait till you're a few infinity years older, Jim.

[piscator]

What is the sound of an infinite unicycle? Where does one pedal?

[Animavore]

Did the universe's biggest thorn cause the universe's biggest puncture, and does this mean the universe is deflating? Are we just the inner tube of an infinite bicycle?

You cannot have an infinite bicycle, since a bike cannot be a bike unless it has definite [and therefore] finite form.

The same principle applies to the notion of a definite but infinite universe: impossible. Existential definiteness and an infinity [of physical substance/spacetime] are oxymorons, since existential definiteness necessarily imposes finite modes of being upon any and all physical realities.

You can have an infinite bicycle tube as everyone knows a circle has no beginning or end.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Did the universe's biggest thorn cause the universe's biggest puncture, and does this mean the universe is deflating? Are we just the inner tube of an infinite bicycle?

You cannot have an infinite bicycle, since a bike cannot be a bike unless it has definite [and therefore] finite form.

The same principle applies to the notion of a definite but infinite universe: impossible. Existential definiteness and an infinity [of physical substance/spacetime] are oxymorons, since existential definiteness necessarily imposes finite modes of being upon any and all physical realities.

You can have an infinite bicycle tube as everyone knows a circle has no beginning or end.

But does it have a bell or a honky horn? Can we ever tell?

[JimC]

And does it have a comfy seat, or a ball-breaker?

[Seth]

And does it have a comfy seat, or a ball-breaker?

It's gotta have an infinitely comfy seat because I don't imagine God wants his balls busted.

Then again....

[piscator]

And does it have a comfy seat, or a ball-breaker?

In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the Raspberry Pi.
"What are you doing?", asked Minsky.
"I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-tac-toe", Sussman replied.
"Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky.
"I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes.
"Why do you close your eyes?" Sussman asked his teacher.
"So that the room will be empty."
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

[Animavore]

Did the universe's biggest thorn cause the universe's biggest puncture, and does this mean the universe is deflating? Are we just the inner tube of an infinite bicycle?

You cannot have an infinite bicycle, since a bike cannot be a bike unless it has definite [and therefore] finite form.

The same principle applies to the notion of a definite but infinite universe: impossible. Existential definiteness and an infinity [of physical substance/spacetime] are oxymorons, since existential definiteness necessarily imposes finite modes of being upon any and all physical realities.

You can have an infinite bicycle tube as everyone knows a circle has no beginning or end.

But does it have a bell or a honky horn? Can we ever tell?

Maybe we can search the CMBR for ripples in spacetime from which we should be able to tell by their frequency if they are of a high or low pitch.

[piscator]

Harmonics, man. The Song of the Planets. The Song Remains the Same. The Wheel In The Sky Keeps On Turin-ing. Don't know where I'll be tomorrow...Dooduhdoodoo...