The primary evidence that the universe did, in fact, start with the Big Bang is the cosmic background radiation permeating all of space. Point a radio telescope in whatever direction you want, and you’ll hear a hiss. That hiss has been called the echo of the Big Bang, and it’s almost uniform. Almost. The microwave spectrum corresponds to the thermal radiation of an object at a temperature of of 2.73 Kelvin (that’s -454 degrees Fahrenheit). However, as I implied above, the radiation is not quite uniform.
The microwave sky map above shows these variations away from 2.73 Kelvin as red for hotter and blue for colder. We’re not talking huge variation here. As a matter of fact, the portion of this map that’s drawing attention is all of 0.00015 Kelvin lower than 2.73 Kelvin—but that’s enough to prompt some physicists to invoke some fantastic phenomena to explain its existence. More below the fold.
But first, a message from our sponsor:
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
The cold spot in question is in the lower right-hand corner of the top image; The image to the right shows this region in close-up. One way for a region of space (or any object, really) to acquire a lower temperature is for it to undergo an expansion without heat transfer to surrounding regions. If such had occurred to this region of the universe, we would expect that the density of observable matter to be lower that what we observe in other parts of the universe. However, if you actually count all the galaxies in the region of the sky that corresponds to the cold spot, there’s no significant difference in the matter density in that region versus any other direction; it looks just like the rest of the universe.
So, what has caused this cold spot to be cold? There are a couple possible explanations. First, it could just be a random variation. There’s about a 2 % likelihood that that region acquired its lower temperature simply due to chance, and when you’re talking about the universe, 2 % is pretty plausible. The other possibility being considered is where things get a little wild. It is suggested that the cold spot is evidence of “a collision between our universe and another bubble universe,” presumably allowing a significant transfer of heat between them. So the cold spot could be confirmatory evidence for the notion that there are multiple, possibly an infinite number of parallel universes beyond our own which we can’t otherwise observe.
Now, I’m a big fan of reality, which means when people start talking about the significance of unobservable parallel universes, I tend to roll my eyes. Surely, you’d think, one infinite universe would provide all the resources necessary to explain what we observe. When you start to invoke the untestable, you have left the realm of actual science. As such, I’m a fan of the random fluctuation explanation.
Just sayin’.
Now, on to the comments!
Top Comments, (May 20, 2017):
From sidnora:
kovie provides this finely-crafted little jewel of prose. From Texas Lefty’s recommended post on the White House cover-up.
From BeninSC
I was delighted to see a first diary from new Daily Kos member and candidate for VA House of Delegates, Kelly Fowler (KFowler)! (That diary, almost more about her daughter than her candidacy, is well worth the read in its own right!) With this comment, Eyesbright provided terrific information about that race with a link to the pdxbuckeye’s diary on that contest! It’s the kind of help I love to see in comments! May the information help our newest candidate!
Top Mojo (May 19, 2017):
Top Photos (May 19, 2017):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!