What's out there? Speeding through the universe (09 Mar2008)

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080309.html
<<Why are we moving so fast? What is out there?>>

Heaven and Earth?

<<The concept of yin and yang (or heaven and earth) describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary (completing) aspects of any one phenomenon (object or process)or comparison of any two phenomena. They are universal standards of quality at the basis of the systems of correspondence seen in most branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine being an example
.
Yin (陰 or 阴 "shady place, north slope, south bank (river); cloudy, overcast"; Japanese: in or on; Korean: 음, Vietnamese: âm) qualities are characterized as passive, dark, feminine, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponds to the night.
.
Yang (陽 or 阳 "sunny place, south slope, north bank (river), sunshine"; Japanese: yō; Korean: 양, Vietnamese: dương) qualities are characterized as active, light, masculine, positive, upward-seeking, producing and corresponds to the daytime.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

[cherlin]

I find it amusing that we can now tell how fast the earth is moving relative to the cosmos, when Relativity was born from the failure of attempts at just that over a century ago.

Of course, Michelson and Morley were trying to measure the relative speed of light, in order to find our speed relative to the then supposed Luminiferous Ether, Without their exquisitely sensitive interferometers, we couldn't have discovered that C is constant for all observers.

These days, we instead measure the relative energy (or equivalently wavelength) of red-shifted and blue-shifted cosmic microwaves, and use many times more sensitive interferometers to look for gravity-wave bursts. I'm running Einstein@Home right now.

[ta152h0]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apo ... MBR+Dipole

are these the same images ?

[TimeTravel123456789]

THere is an unpublished article i wrote which talks about the CMBR not being related to the big bang or just as likely related to a local event like a supernovae or local big bang similar to what George Gamow discussed in constant production ideas.

One of the arguments is that there should not be one dipole but many movements. The galaxy or local group is not just moving towards virgo but there are many movements going on in many directions.

One movement blue shift indicates one type of movement.

The article has been rejected by sources from PNAS, to Astro Journal, to Astrophysics Journal, to Chinese journal of Astronomy, to Astronomi nacthricten, Astronomy magazine, IOP resources, etc.

James T. Struck

[Case]

Is this movement consistent with our pull towards the Great Attractor?

[decora]

I find it amusing that we can now tell how fast the earth is moving relative to the cosmos, when Relativity was born from the failure of attempts at just that over a century ago.

Of course, Michelson and Morley were trying to measure the relative speed of light, in order to find our speed relative to the then supposed Luminiferous Ether, Without their exquisitely sensitive interferometers, we couldn't have discovered that C is constant for all observers.

These days, we instead measure the relative energy (or equivalently wavelength) of red-shifted and blue-shifted cosmic microwaves, and use many times more sensitive interferometers to look for gravity-wave bursts. I'm running Einstein@Home right now.

What? Is there really an Ether now? I don't understand...
Is this cosmic background radiation uniform in it's distribution?
Is it a reference 'thing' against which to measure a velocity?
Is there anyone who can explain this in layman's terms?
I am quite confused. Of course it feels rather nice to be confused, sort
of the magic of childhood revisited and all..

Thanks for posting about this....

[NoelC]

Last I heard there was debate over whether the CMB was truly cosmic or just something from nearby (e.g., our solar system).

If in fact a shift in the frequency of the CMB has us moving in a particular direction at a relativistic speed, then can't this debate be pretty much put to rest? We can derive how fast we're moving through the galaxy, right?

Could we be plowing through fast moving gas nearby? Some time ago Voyager burst through the edge of the bubble made by the solar wind, right? How do readings from that ship correspond to the directionality implied by the dipole?

-Noel

[apodman]

Worry not. Relativity still applies. Instead of our moving spaceship observing another moving spaceship, it's our moving spaceship observing a moving phenomenon that's big enough to surround us. Just consider each point in the cosmic microwave background radiation individually (like a giant diffuse fleet of spaceships) instead of trying to picture the whole.

[anticrepuscular]

at first when i saw the astronomy pic today I thought...what a cool fractal. And then I was like..holy crap it's a ying and yang! word...I totally thought the same thing you did :)

[bystander]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apo ... MBR+Dipole

are these the same images ?

Same image and same explanation. It's not an uncommon occurance at apod.

[Arramon]

d'oh! science proves the metaphysical universe..!

d'oh!!!!

[BMAONE23]

GEE...That yin-yang symbpl really resembles the Dipole image from the APOD image from COBE http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080309.html

[Astrokeener]

It looks to me like the perfect ying and yang of the uinverse. Read the caption and tell me you don't agree. Sometimes the answers are so obvious.

[geonuc]

So obvious it's already been mentioned.

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... hp?t=13239

[Ren Laoshi]

The yin-yang shape is immediately apparent, but why does it look that way? There are probably many places that explain this, but I don't know them. I'm guessing this "dipole" image represents a spherical depiction of the CMBR reduced to a 2D circle. If so, then I can easily imagine a blue and red hemisphere, appropriately hubble-shifted. But then why are there the spots? Are these artefacts of removing galaxy interference (as in Milky Way)?

The reason I ask is that I've always wondered why the spots appear in the yin-yang sign. I am very familiar with the theories, but my guess is that these came after the image was developed rather than the other way around. Perhaps the yin-yang design exists as it does because of a sense of movement somehow correlated to a sphere.

[neufer]

The yin-yang shape is immediately apparent, but why does it look that way? There are probably many places that explain this, but I don't know them. I'm guessing this "dipole" image represents a spherical depiction of the CMBR reduced to a 2D circle. If so, then I can easily imagine a blue and red hemisphere, appropriately hubble-shifted. But then why are there the spots? Are these artefacts of removing galaxy interference (as in Milky Way)?

The galactic coordinate system map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_coordinates

in a Mollweide equal area projection:
tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollweide_projection

of two equal areas:
1) a red shift hemisphere &
1) a blue shift hemisphere.

It is no doubt a fluke that our galaxy happens to be moving very
closely in the direction of one of only four galactic coordinates
that would produce a Yin-Yang figure for such a Mollweide map.

The CMB dipole:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071211.html

[bystander]

Neufer: It is enough that you post the links. We can go to the picture ourselves. Including these large images messes with the side to side scrolling. Just a suggestion, not a rant.

[neufer]

Neufer: It is enough that you post the links. We can go to the picture ourselves. Including these large images messes with the side to side scrolling. Just a suggestion, not a rant.

If the APOD had been done to a resolution that the captions were legible I would have done so.
Besides, IMHO this beautiful map (unlike the simple Dipole IR map) cannot be displayed enough.

[bystander]

If the APOD had been done to a resolution that the captions were legible I would have done so.
Besides, IMHO this beautiful map (unlike the simple Dipole IR map) cannot be displayed enough.

You could have posted the link http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ ... ss_big.jpg lol
It is a nice picture, though!

[apodman]

The most ancient authorities point to this image:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Safeway1970slogo.gif

[apodman]

Now *this* is a rant. Not really. Just an illustration that you can mess with the page width and necessitate horizontal scrolling through the use of text as easily as through the use of pictures:

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... hp?t=13152

[Arramon]

the shape is due to the orbit of the satellite plus the shifting explained, no? and the 'black dots' are from the dipole subtraction...?

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_q ... .420..445F

The Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) has determined the dipole spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) from 2 to 20/cm. For each frequency the signal is decomposed by fitting to a monopole, a dipole, and a Galactic template for approximately 60% of the sky. The overall dipole spectrum fits the derivative of a Planck function with an amplitude of 3.343 +/- 0.016 mK (95% confidence level), a temperature of 2.714 +/- 0.022 K (95% confidence level), and an rms deviation of 6 x 10-9 ergs/sq cm/s/sr cm limited by a detector and cosmic-ray noise. The monopole temperature is consistent with that determined by direct measurement in the accompanying article by Mather et al.

The DMR was able to spend four years mapping the anisotropy of cosmic background radiation as it was the only instrument not dependent on the dewar’s supply of helium to keep it cooled. This operation was able to create full maps of the CMB by subtracting out galactic emissions and dipole at various frequencies. The cosmic microwave background fluctuations are extremely faint, only one part in 100,000 compared to the 2.73 kelvin average temperature of the radiation field. The cosmic microwave background radiation is a remnant of the Big Bang and the fluctuations are the imprint of density contrast in the early universe. The density ripples are believed to have produced structure formation as observed in the universe today: clusters of galaxies and vast regions devoid of galaxies (NASA).

[neufer]

the shape is due to the orbit of the satellite plus the shifting explained, no? and the 'black dots' are from the dipole subtraction...?

The satellite motion and all other local motions:

1) the earth around the sun
2) the sun around the milky way
3) the milky way towards it's larger neighbor M31, etc.

have been removed.

The 'Yin-Yang dots' ~ ±60º out along the Milky Way axis are views straight down local Milky Way spiral arms
(; e.g., the Orion-Cygnus Arm that the sun is in, the Carina-Sagittarius Arm and the Crux-Scutum Arm)

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050825.html

[alec schuetter]

i was wondering if anyone knows what direction we are accelerating from the big bang. looking at this picture (march 9,) i am thinking that we are moving in a specific direction; does anybody know which?

[neufer]

looking at this picture (march 9,) i am thinking that we are moving in a specific direction; does anybody know which?

We are moving roughly towards the Hydra cluster of galaxies.
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 9&start=15
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Princess Leia: Into the garbage chute, flyboy.

Han Solo: Garbage chute. Really wonderful idea. I had everything under control until you led us down here!

Princess Leia: It could be worse.

[Garbage creature growls]

Han Solo: It's worse.

<<The Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast that possessed numerous heads and poisonous breath. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid. Beneath the waters was an entrance to the Underworld, and the Hydra was its guardian.>>
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http://www.ldps.ws/Mirror/Universe/hya.html

<<Together with the Virgo cluster and the Centaurus cluster (A3526), the Hydra cluster is one of the three largest clusters of galaxies within 200 million light years.>>
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Yoda: That place... is strong with the dark side of the Force.
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http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010416.html

<<The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies contains well over 100 bright galaxies - but perhaps fewer galaxies than might be expected from its mass. Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe. Most of a cluster's mass, however, appears to be in a form too dark to see, as analyses of the distribution of X-ray light, gravitational lensing, and internal motions indicate. Abell 1060, as the above cluster is also known, appears to have an even higher fraction of dark matter than seen in a similar cluster, a situation astronomers cannot easily reconcile with both clusters forming solely from gravitational attraction. The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies, named for its home constellation, spans about ten million light years.>>
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Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the Dark Side.
..................................
Luke: Vader... Is the dark side stronger?

Yoda: No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.