New detailed Dark Matter map from NASA

[HiddenSound]

great stuff here




This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the distribution of dark matter in the center of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 1689, containing about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars.

Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the universe's mass. Hubble cannot see the dark matter directly. Astronomers inferred its location by analyzing the effect of gravitational lensing, where light from galaxies behind Abell 1689 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster.

Researchers used the observed positions of 135 lensed images of 42 background galaxies to calculate the location and amount of dark matter in the cluster. They superimposed a map of these inferred dark matter concentrations, tinted blue, on an image of the cluster taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. If the cluster's gravity came only from the visible galaxies, the lensing distortions would be much weaker. The map reveals that the densest concentration of dark matter is in the cluster's core.

Abell 1689 resides 2.2 billion light-years from Earth. The image was taken in June 2002.

more about this image here -

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hu...atter-map.html

[Statto]

awesome

[Macc]

[markgabba]

It's incredible how far our understanding of the universe has come...

[antidote uk]

Another interesting article with regards to the universe and dark matter here

[SHIFT]

as epic as it is, try bringing this topic up at your local pub and you'l get drowned out by "yeah but do you think its fair that vagner could win the X factor"

guess thats why i don't go to pubs.

[Rimmer]

They've got it all wrong, believe me!

[Euphony]

as epic as it is, try bringing this topic up at your local pub and you'l get drowned out by "yeah but do you think its fair that vagner could win the X factor"

guess thats why i don't go to pubs.

You need to go to the pub with me then

[Primorcon]

fascinating

[qµ:rec]

as epic as it is, try bringing this topic up at your local pub and you'l get drowned out by "yeah but do you think its fair that vagner could win the X factor"

guess thats why i don't go to pubs.

You need to go to the pub with me then

haha or me for that matter..

It's all about half-drunk, heated discussions about possible universes or identity vs equivalence with
at least one guy getting pissed and leaving the premises
.....and how quick the discussion switches to dirty non-sense

[cube]

could dark energy be the hyperspace communication network and possibly qi too?

[Euphony]

Yes

[cube]

and so that makes dark matter....?

[Roo Stercogburn]

They've got it all wrong, believe me!

What a guy!

[Euphony]

and so that makes dark matter....?

No

[cube]

of course there's no difference between them.

[Euphony]

Yes

[qµ:rec]

nice read btw on io9.com a propos that image:
http://io9.com/5703054/how-do-we-see-dark-matter