Science, Space

Colossal ‘Hole’ in Space Could Be Link to Universe Beyond Our Own

By , Epoch Times | January 23, 2014
Last Updated: April 6, 2014 9:25 am
About 6 billion to 10 billion light years from Earth, the cosmos seems to drop off into a giant void. (Shutterstock*)

About 6 billion to 10 billion light years from Earth, the cosmos seems to drop off into a giant void. (Shutterstock*)


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Leave this world, travel 6 billion–10 billion light years toward the Eridanus constellation, and you’ll run into a giant cosmic wall of nothingness.

A void in space 1 billion light years across stumped scientists when it was discovered in 2007—then another void spanning 3.5 billion light years was discovered in 2009. These voids cannot be explained by the current understanding of the universe’s structure and evolution.

It is said that smaller voids have formed by gravitational pull following the Big Bang. But voids of this size could not have formed in the amount of time following the Big Bang, they would require much more time to form. 

 

So What Are They?

They contain neither galaxies nor clusters, explains a New Scientist article, and infrasonic mapping has shown the Eridanus void to be cold, suggesting it lacks dark matter. 

“Standard cosmology cannot explain such a giant cosmic hole,” Laura Mersini-Houghton, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, told New Scientist. Her theory: “It is the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own.”

Astronomers hypothesize about the voids, but no conclusions have been reached. It remains a mystery.

Mount Sumeru and other mystical mountains discussed in Buddhism are sometimes said to be real structures in the cosmos made of substances not easily perceived by mankind and which thus appear as gaping holes. 

Ancient wisdom has strangely hit the nail on the head before. See the Epoch Times article 3 Amazing Coincidences in Our Solar System: What Could They Mean?.

 

Putting the Numbers in Perspective

The known universe is estimated to be about 93.5 billion light years across, meaning the void spanning 3.5 billion light years takes up about 3 percent of the universe.

One light year is equivalent to about 6 trillion miles. Here’s a handy graphic developed by PageTutor.com for putting the number 1 trillion into perspective. 

 

*Image of stars via Shutterstock

Category: Science Space

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  • SPQR

    It’s sad that engineers and scientists at the LHC were given a Nobel Prize in Physics for a “Theoretical Discovery” of the Higgs Boson – and not an actual discovery.

    What’s worse is that people are buying into the notion that gravitation is the result of a particle. Gravitatation has more in common with Buoyancy than Bosons.

    There can be no meaningful scientific discussion – as long as the Nobel foundation awards heavily funded psuedo science. ‘Multiverse’ theory is also included under the umbrella of pseudo scientific theory spawned by embracing Gravitation as the result of some supermassive, pre-existent Quark.

    I’m just saying…

    • chenelope

      Reckon it’s about time for a lynchin’

    • Pawyigh Lee

      Look up the free-to-download pdf The Universe is Only Spacetime. It gives an explanation of gravity as a result of repulsion, and not a “force” as such.

  • rg9rts

    Its the opening to the fish tank

    • HeyJude

      I would not be a bit surprised that there is a universe beyond ours, or even more than one. :-) Do you have a portal in your fish tank?

      • rg9rts

        I kept it covered or they’d jump out

  • Joe Doakes

    “a researcher at the University of North Carolina” — translation: a grad student.

    cosmologists don’t use the “standard cosmology” she’s talking about, precisely because of structures like the voids described in the story.

    this is a complete non-story.

    • Pawyigh Lee

      Laura Mersini-Houghton’s Wiki’d article says she’s a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, and associate professor, and confirms she’s female.

  • sam my

    Buddhists believe there are seven universes, maybe they are right! Maybe our universe has these holes of very dark nothingness that lead to other universes.

  • Julian G. Elliott

    Say we were actually able to go closer to these voids. Would it be possible for someone or something to go around the voids?


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