Astronomers have found a giant “hole” in the universe that measures nearly a billion light-year across. The large galactic void is empty of galaxies, stars, dust clouds and, oddly enough, even dark matter. The discovery has left scientists clambering for a plausible explanation, however, as of right now one hasn’t arisen. Scientists claim that a galactic void this large is far from a normal occurrence.
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Further inspection of the hole was made using the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope funded by the National Science Foundation, after which it was discovered by University of Minnesota researchers that the cold spot is devoid of nearly all forms of matter. Many galactic voids exist in space, however, the WMAP Cold Spot Void is an especially unique occurrence considering that it is nearly 1,000 times larger than any other observed void.
Rudnick refers to the results as “suprising.”
Also involved in the research of the region was Associate Professor Liliya Williams, who stated, “What we’ve found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe”.
According to the University of Minnesota, the reason the void appears as a cold spot on the CMB map lies in the absence of dark matter.
How cool is it that an absence of dark matter might be the cause of a dark spot? (I am making a pedantic, not a scientific comment here… please, DWL!)
I admit that the first thing I thought of when I read this story was the Ecthroi, but decided to go with the NeverEnding Story reference instead.