NEWS: Holey Universe, Batman!

GEEK: Holey Universe, Batman!

As you may remember, the internet is full of holes. As I've also said recently, mathematical equations and broad hypotheses do nothing as far as convincing me that ours is a computer-generated reality. Those scientists must really be working overtime to keep me up at night, however, because just this week they managed to stumble across some interesting new information about how very alike our universe and the internet (and perhaps even swiss cheese) truly are -- for the universe, too, is full of holes.

What the hell, right? Well, in the vaguest sense, this is not a new discovery; voids in space have been noted before. What makes this so surprising is that this particular void is exponentially more vast than anyone had previously imagined. Lawrence Rudnick and his team of astrophysicists working at the University of Minnesota have had their eye on this cold spot for a while, but only now have they pulled together years of data for a bigger and fuller picture.

The verdict of all this new data, at this point, seems to be pretty much just a state of slack-jawed shock all around.

The big question, of course, is: what does this mean? Mostly, never underestimate science, because the minute you think you know what's there, you get thrown a giant vortex or nothing. As far as a more basic standpoint, it's not yet entirely clear, but I'm sure the fine men and women studying this anomaly will be working hard to figure out what has caused such a rift in space and why. The most prevalent theory right now is that gravity from bigger surrounding structures has pulled all matter away into sort of a reverse-planetoid sphere of nothing. Alternate theory: The Great Gamer in the Sky got too fancy and ran out of Sim-dollars before he could finish filling up the universe. Hey, why not? At this rate, it's no less plausible than anything else.


_DictionaryGirl_ sometimes wishes she was an astrophysicist.

Aww, I thought this was about batman...Oh well, crazy weird none the less.

This is totally rad. It means the big bang theory may very well totally be true. there ya, go religious nuts there's the center of the universe and where it's finally tearing apart from the big bang and will eventually contract to. Piss off. LOL that'd be so great.

Full of holes? I thought you were going to then add ASSholes...I guess I should stop reading the other stories.

I found this odd:

How does void have volume?

Hawking: Your theory of a donut-shaped universe is intriguing, Homer. I may have to steal it.

All right, who divided by zero?

HA!

Well, since I've mathematically determined that this is actually my personal simulation, I thought I'd mention. In the mid 90s I had a few years that I lost to drinking and "such". Hole problem solved.

Oh, it's nothing.

You think in a 1,000 years space pilots are going to be calling it New Sargasso?

No, I think they're going to call it the big friggin' void.

The universe just makes no fucking sense to me.

Also, I really hope there's something very awesome and very hidden at the exact center of that void. That would be awesome.

like vast spaces in our unexplored consciousness

What I want to know is: how far away it is, and how quickly it's expanding....

Do you hear that sound ??

AHEM...they're called Simolleons, thank you!

so is it still there if we can see as far back as less than a millions years after the big bang? I mean to us it is still there, but physically has it not been filled with...something? Perhaps Snacks?

I figured I'd round out the pop culture references that started with "Holy Universe Batman" (although I think it ought to be "Holey" to avoid confusion, but who am I, right?)

It is not known to be expanding. Although observations of it are extremely limited.
It is also 5 to 10 Billion light years away , so DON'T PANIC.
We do know that there is also another very,very much smaller one practically right next door. just 2 million light years away. Full of snacks indeed

is it sad that i immediately thought of the nothing from the neverending story?

Let the naming begin! My proposition: The Bakersfield Nebula

Volume is not the measure of the contents of a space but a measure of the dimensions of that space.

For instance, a spherical balloon that measures 6" in diameter has the same volume whether it is filled with air, water or hypothetically, nothing at all.

Thanks. I slept through most of my physics classes in college!

All those stellar voids are where mankind set up home in ages past. We keep blowing ourselves up and the survivors move elsewhere... no, wait; that's my theory that we keep bouncing back and forth between Earth and Mars, ruining one planet while the other recovers.

Well then, maybe it was aliens who blew themselves up.

Sounds like Nebraska.

<--(hears the beginning notes of NIN's "Into the Void")