SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
"Unknown "Structures" Not Tugging on the Universe After All?
from National Geographic News
Mysterious, unseen structures on the outskirts of creation most likely aren't tugging on our universe, according to a new study. The paper reexamines "dark flow"--an unusual, one-way motion of matter--using measurements of supernovae and the existing laws of physics.
In 2008, a team of scientists took measurements of hundreds of galaxy clusters and calculated that everything in the visible universe--and likely beyond--is flowing at 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) an hour in the same direction. The data couldn't be explained by the distribution of matter in the known universe, so the scientists suggested that chunks of matter had been pushed out shortly after the big bang, and their gravity is now pulling on everything around us.
In 2010 the same team released a second study with data on twice as many galaxy clusters as their 2008 work. That research found that dark flow extends even deeper into the universe than previously reported: out to at least 2.5 billion light-years from Earth.
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