Page 6 - Coma Cluster News Today

There are many great discoveries that happened in the 1930s that changed our view of the Universe. From tiny discoveries (the neutron) to huge ones (Pluto), from theoretical explanations of antimatter to the neutrino to the start of quantum field theory, the 1930s were a great time for making new discoveries. But one man often gets left out of these discussions, IMO, because he was too far ahead of his time.

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." -Joseph Campbell Space, as you know, is mostly empty, as the typical distance between galaxies far exceeds the size of the galaxies themselves. But in a few select regions of the Universe, where the mass density is unusually above average, galaxies cluster together by the thousands. The closest huge cluster to us like this is the Coma Cluster, containing more galaxies than 95% of all known galaxy clusters.

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. -Robert Frost Sure, if all we're talking about is the Earth, that one's a no-brainer. It's fire.

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -Plato Imagine, if you will, the year 2200. Forget about the flying cars and robotic exoskeletons, though. I'm thinking about the incredible scientific tools we'll have at our disposal, as well as the huge set of information we'll have available about the Universe.

"Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" -the Wicked Queen For a galaxy, though, it's really not fair to ask which one's the fairest. It's simply too subjective of a question. But size, now that's something we can measure. So, I ask you -- galaxies of the Universe -- to step forward and show yourselves! Galaxy, galaxy on the wall, who's the largest one of all?

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." -Marie Curie Were you here last week, when I wrote about MOND and dark matter, and in particular what the supreme failings of MOND are? Apparently, right here on Scienceblogs was a hugely dissenting opinion.

“With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.” -Aaron Satie, Star Trek It’s been a remarkable week at Starts With A Bang, and I'm especially proud of the stories we've run on Proxima b, Hubble's limits, the dream of Warp Drive and the Cosmic Neutrino background. If you missed any of them (or any of the others), here's what the past week has held:

"Through space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; through thought I comprehend the world." -Blaise Pascal Whether you have or haven't seen the xkcd webcomic, height (or my old post referencing it), one of the things that I can't imagine not fascinating you is what you see the farther "up" you look.

Western Slope Skies By Art Trevena Credit ESA/NASA Galaxies, those enormous accumulations of stars, dust, gas, and other stuff, are a bit like people – they tend to congregate in big groups. Listen Episode aired Friday, April 30th and Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 Many galaxies are found in galaxy clusters, collections of hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are gravitationally connected. Gravity and the closeness of these galaxies to one another have allowed galaxy clusters to resist ...