The Great Attractor

[Spinward Scout]

"So, that's it then."

They were both looking at the results from the Jump Explorer Telescope, or JET, the Project to see the Great Attractor.

The Great Attractor is a region of gravitational attraction in intergalactic space and the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way galaxy, as well as about 100,000 other galaxies. The observed attraction suggests a localized concentration of mass having the order of 10¹⁶ solar masses. However, it is obscured by the Milky Way's galactic plane, lying behind the Zone of Avoidance, so that in visible light wavelengths, the Great Attractor is difficult to observe directly.

Hence the necessity of the Jump Explorer Telescope. The Jump Explorer Telescope went up 'above' the galactic plane, making hundreds of jumps to get the best view point.

"The theory was right. 10¹⁶ solar masses."

"It's a Black Hole," the other said.

"Yeah," was all the first could say.

"The galaxy is being pulled into an ultra-supermassive Black f**king Hole!" the second one blurted out.

The first one looked down at the floor.

"So what do we do?" the second one asked.

The first one said softly: "Well, it's not like we can evacuate the galaxy."

 

[coliver988]

or - dark matter and not a black hole?

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/black-hole-centre-of-milky-way-dark-matter

 

[Spinward Scout]

It's an interesting theory.

But I don't believe in Dark Matter.

Even Einstein said he was wrong.

 

[Vargr Breath]

Niven's Puppeteers had this all figured out and were leaving.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Good Lord. Wait until these people hear about the heat death of the universe.

 

[MichaelSTee]

Good Lord. Wait until these people hear about the heat death of the universe.

Invest in ice machines!!

 

[Grav_Moped]

Invest in ice machines!!

Not quite.... but on the other hand:
The Last Question -- Isaac Asimov
(*.pdf link)

If you've ever read it, you'll remember it.
If you haven't, enjoy!

 

[mike wightman]

It's an interesting theory.

It is.

But I don't believe in Dark Matter.

Neither do I since there is no evidence for its existence as a "particle", it is an anomaly that may have other explanations. Belief is for religion, not science.

Even Einstein said he was wrong.

Einstein got stuff wrong.

 

[McPerth]

But I don't believe in Dark Matter.

I neither believe on it nor deny it, as my knowledge about it is not enough, but I've always thought this is the new name for Ether (from my ignorance, I don't see too many differences).

And I enjoyed playing Space 1889...

 

[coliver988]

and people did not believe in bacteria either, yet here we are. Who knows what we'll discover in the future?

I've read (most) of this book, and one of the themes is that you never know what will change our entire understanding of things. We can't plan for it in a nice, neat tech level tree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions

 

[bookwyrm]

The first one said softly: "Well, it's not like we can evacuate the galaxy."

Goosebumps.

It really drew me in. I had to read it twice before I noticed

Jump Explorer Telescope

 

[Spinward Scout]

As far as Dark Matter goes, I consider it Bad Science. They tried to measure the mass of the universe and came up 70% short using Einstein's equations. So, they said: 'Einstein couldn't be wrong - it must be the universe that's wrong' Whether correct or not, this is Bad Science. If it was anyone other than Einstein, they would have said the equations were wrong. Even Einstein thought he was wrong.

Goosebumps.

It really drew me in. I had to read it twice before I noticed

I should have waited until Hallowe'en.

Glad you liked it.

 

[whulorigan]

As far as Dark Matter goes, I consider it Bad Science. They tried to measure the mass of the universe and came up 70% short using Einstein's equations. So, they said: 'Einstein couldn't be wrong - it must be the universe that's wrong' Whether correct or not, this is Bad Science. If it was anyone other than Einstein, they would have said the equations were wrong. Even Einstein thought he was wrong.

Well, it isn't Bad Science, it is a Conjecture (or Hypothesis). Which is part of the scientific method. And it remains a valid conjecture until falsified.

There is an observation that the motion and self-gravitation of what we observe requires more sources of gravitational attraction than what we can observe. And we can rule out a number of otherwise simple possibilities based on a lack of evidence that should otherwise be there. So something is causing gravitation (or otherwise causing anomalous attraction, motion and trajectory) that is not predicted by standard theories. That means that there is either mass that is there that we are not observing or is not observable with our instrumentation (which puts significant constraints on what it could be - it does not interact via electromagnetism, or we would observe its thermal spectrum or radiation at some point, and the Strong Force is highly localized because of Containment) so that leaves only a few possibilities:

1. There is an unknown/unobserved matter particle-field or fields that only interact Gravitationally
2. There is an unknown/unobserved matter particle-field or fields that only interact Gravitationally and Weakly
3. There is an unknown/unobserved matter particle-field or fields that only interact Gravitationally and with some other unknown New Force(s) with which we do not interact (apparently)
4. There is an unknown/unobserved force-mediating particle-field or fields that we have not yet discovered
5. The Theory of General Relativity needs modification in some as yet undermined way, either for geometric/topological reasons or multi-dimensional considerations or some other as yet undefined reason
6. Our entire understanding is in some way fundamentally flawed and requires a new more comprehensive Theory of Spacetime

Any of the above (and perhaps other possibilities) could be true, but without evidence to conclusively falsify, none can be ruled out.

The predictions of Einstein's equations have otherwise been tested under laboratory conditions and found to stand up to a high degree of precision. If Einstein's equations are wrong, it is not under any kind of situation or conditions that we can or have tested for to date. Thus definitively saying that Einstein was wrong, or taking any position at this point, is Bad Science, because nothing currently on the table has been falsified, and Einstein's equations as they currently stand have consistently failed to be falsified under rigorous tests.

(Now, admittedly the failure to discover some sign of candidate "mystery particles" that fit the parameters after all of this time does make one stop to reconsider one's conjectures in light of the results (or lack thereof) coming from colliders like the LHC, but it may just mean that we have not yet reached the energy range where they appear as "massive supersymmetric partners" of more standard particles in some version of a unification theory (however unlikely that may seem)).

 

[Spinward Scout]

7. Einstein's equations don't account for all of the mass in the universe. If 70% is missing, then the equations only account for 30% of the mass of the universe and need to be adjusted. His equations are only 30% correct.

At least, that's my theory.