COSMOLOGY

Is Everything We Know About The Universe Wrong?

"Dark flow is the latest in a long line of phenomena that have threatened to re-write the textbooks. Does it herald a new era of understanding, or does it simply mean that everything we know about the universe is wrong?"

9 PM Monday on Discovery Science. I enjoyed this hour about the standard model of cosmology and various concepts that had to be added as newer data became available. It will be repeated Tuesday, September 20 2011 12:00 AM. http://www.sciencechannel.ca/

Summary: "Dark Flow" is the latest finding from examinations of data collected about our universe. The hour covers the Big Bang theory (standard model of cosmology); the need to explain why the temperature is homogeneous throughout the universe (not an expected result of a Big Bang); Alan Guth's concept of inflation that answers the homogeneous temperature problem; rotation speeds of galaxies that led to the idea of dark matter which is required to explain why galaxies don't fly apart; the curious problem of how to detect dark matter; and finally the "dark flow" of matter discovered upon examination of CMB data (the cosmic microwave background). Is there more structure outside of our universe? Alan Guth predicted that our universe was part of a larger structure.

It doesn't get more fun than the exploration of ideas about cosmology!

Herschel Views the Milky Way: looking toward the constellation of the Southern Cross. Photo from Herschel Space Observatory.