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[picture] Hubble finds dark matter smoke ring

badastronomy.com — This image is of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1652, a galactic city located a whopping 5 billion light years away! That means the light we see from this cluster left it five billion years ago, so we’re seeing this structure as it was when the Universe was just 2/3 its present age. Almost every small object in that image is a galaxy...

Who dugg this? Made popular May 16, 2007

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  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -7/+160The Hubble's pretty powerful, but can it see what makes kids go crazy over Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
  • KuntaKinte, on 10/11/2007, -2/+50wow, 5 billion light years, larry king was just a small turtle back then
  • colonelpanic, on 10/11/2007, -2/+45Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
    -Albert Einstein
  • ImperatorTerrae, on 10/11/2007, -3/+38And we all know that we get dark matter when various alien species DO their business.
    /Futurama
  • bonyicecream, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28higher res: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/screen/heic0709a.jpg
    same picture but blacker: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/screen/heic0709b.jpg
  • BadAstronomer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+29Heh. In fact, that *is* my business.
  • Urusai, on 10/11/2007, -3/+27That's what she said.
  • Darmichar, on 10/11/2007, -4/+27To look at that picture and think that we are the only forms of life in this universe is pompous.
  • tristan55555, on 10/11/2007, -2/+22Link to the highest of high res images they have:

    http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2007/17/images/a/formats/full_jpg.jpg
  • Floogy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18I'm sure there are many out there who would still want to be the first to walk on Mars, death sentence or not.
  • esotericguy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+20Hello new awesomest background ever.

  • AlphaEta, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19Dude, you need to brush up on your numbers.
  • reevolutn, on 10/11/2007, -3/+20the universe is so ***** big my head is going to explode if i try and comprehend its enormity
  • fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -6/+215 billion lightyears is nothing compared to the ordeal I went through this morning - I had to go to the shop to get coffee before I could have any coffee.
  • deadowl, on 10/11/2007, -5/+19If only it were more phallic.
  • wounded625, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13how can you say it wouldnt be cool to walk on mars?
  • fLUx1337, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11If we’re the only ones, it’s a big waste of space!
  • triscuitbiscuit, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10I am guessing Kevin is as happy as you now...
  • whoaohh, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Better to waste money putting a man onto Mars to die than to waste it putting a man in Iraq to die.

    Space has a better future.
  • BadAstronomer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10They measure the position of the dark matter by looking at how it distorts the light from galaxies behind the cluster. It's a statistical method, but the numbers are pretty solid. Once they map out the position of the DM and its mass, they can colorize the optical image of the cluster. So no, you'r enot seeing the DM directly, but a map of its position. Still, pretty way cool.
  • DigitalDud, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10Wow that really puts things into perspective...
  • directive0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Close but no cigar.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter
  • geronimo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Judging by his post history, that's not sarcasm, believe it or not. Yes, people like this do inhabit our earth. And yes we have a testable hypothesis that has supporting evidence.
  • tkstock, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5I kind of imagine that this would be what the Total Perspective Vortex would be like...
  • Haphazardness, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8Hubble is freaking amazing.. without Hubble, we'd have nothing.
  • Ninnux, on 10/11/2007, -7/+11Why do we waste research money on manned space flight when clearly all of the really cool and fruitful science is coming from unmanned vehicles, satellites, and probes?

    I took a graduate class in space biotechnology at UTMB proctored by a guy from JSC. The dirty secret is that all the researchers at NASA know a manned mission to Mars is a death sentence. If the radiation doesn't kill them, then the de-calcification of their bones will kill them upon entry into gravity.
  • moniker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Dugg this article not only for the picture, but the excellent write-up about it as well.
  • airmann90, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7I really can't stop looking at that picture and just imagining that there could be living beings in any of those galaxies... blows your mind.
  • tkstock, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I doubt he got owned by Joe Rogan on any serious subject about physics... especially since Joe Rogan is a comedian.

    The Bad Astronomy website has been my favorite for years.
  • wounded625, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6haha. i tried thinking about how small we are copared to the vastness of the universe and how that there could be any number of life living in those other galaxies. its hard to imagine the vastness of the universe. it made my head 'esplode.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@ sofaking812

    Hmmmm...sweet nebulous cinnamon swirls :)
  • teh_techie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Left the [SARCASM] switch on didn't we?
  • DubbedOver, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Some say (*cough* Stephen Hawking *cough*) that figuring out a way to travel to other planets is our civilizations only way to prevent extinction.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15970232/

  • Jugalator, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm not sure what's most amazing in this picture:
    1. That it's light having travelled since the Earth formed, unobstructed all that way, and seen by a human device.
    2. That the scientists even *found* that distant spot, of all places (and depths) in space one may look.
    3. That there's finally good empirical signs there is dark matter.

    A bit surprising perhaps, #3 doesn't seem most amazing at this point to me.
  • VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -2/+4stop whining and make me a smoothie damnit.

    Anyone else almost pee themselves when they read "a galactic city located a whopping 5 billion light years away"
  • Pushkin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2But still a good article
    Anyway: http://www.spacetelescope.org/
  • comrademikhail, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3That picture is amazing.. Looking at all those galaxies that have stars and planets of their own.... It's hard not to think there's some other life out there besides us. There has to be out there some where.
  • j4k3h4x, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Awesome, New desktop wallpaper!
  • oriondarkwood, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Its proof god smokes pot
  • BadAstronomer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1That's a good question (but it's cool just to know about it at all). DM may be made of an exotic particle called a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle, or WIMP. They're predicted to have lots of weird properties. And whenever we understand particles better, there are practical applications. Nuclear energy, understanding the Sun better (the Sun's neutrinos - or really, the lack thereof - helped revolutionize particle physics!), and then... who knows what else. Studying the phsyical aspects of the Universe *always* has practical applications in the long run.


  • jhshukla, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1badastronomer, yes I figured that from the article. what I am asking is what makes the smoky ring so clearly visible in the pic? what is substance that reflects or produces the visible light?
  • nkstn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3And were the only life forms... yeah... ok...That picture alone should kick anyone in the head who thinks people were 'invented' 4000 years ago lol
  • alexkorova, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Manned missions are much better PR

    (BTW, I wish the US would spend a lot more money on telescopes and probes)
  • Soniti, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1DUAL DISPLAY IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
  • ChrisGranger, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@joe2100

    Bzzzt, you're wrong, but thanks for playing.
  • DrMonkeyLove, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yeah, when you realize each one of those things is a galaxy, with possibly millions of solar systems, it makes you feel a little small. Alas, I'm pretty sure that I'm NOT the most important thing in the universe.
  • varble, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1We already are exploring deep space, and you are alive, as far as I know. Oh, you mean in person. ;p
  • VanDerHevel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1wow, it's gorgeous. i wish i could be alive by the time we could explore deep space.
  • ChrisGranger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think I speak for a lot of us when I say WTF?
  • whoaohh, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2the fact that this is from 5 billion years ago is overwhelming in itself
    seeing twice as far would take us to the universe in its baby years
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