New observational evidence of intergalactic filimentation

[flyingcloud]

Shedding Light On The Cosmic Skeleton

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 102244.htm

ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2009) — Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed

"Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe," says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic web', in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure."

These filaments are millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the Universe: galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest. Scientists are struggling to determine how they swirl into existence. Although massive filamentary structures have been often observed at relatively small distances from us, solid proof of their existence in the more distant Universe has been lacking until now.

The team led by Tanaka discovered a large structure around a distant cluster of galaxies in images they obtained earlier. They have now used two major ground-based telescopes to study this structure in greater detail, measuring the distances from Earth of over 150 galaxies, and, hence, obtaining a three-dimensional view of the structure. The spectroscopic observations were performed using the VIMOS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and FOCAS on the Subaru Telescope, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Thanks to these and other observations, the astronomers were able to make a real demographic study of this structure, and have identified several groups of galaxies surrounding the main galaxy cluster. They could distinguish tens of such clumps, each typically ten times as massive as our own Milky Way galaxy -- and some as much as a thousand times more massive -- while they estimate that the mass of the cluster amounts to at least ten thousand times the mass of the Milky Way. Some of the clumps are feeling the fatal gravitational pull of the cluster, and will eventually fall into it.

"This is the first time that we have observed such a rich and prominent structure in the distant Universe," says Tanaka. "We can now move from demography to sociology and study how the properties of galaxies depend on their environment, at a time when the Universe was only two thirds of its present age."

The filament is located about 6.7 billion light-years away from us and extends over at least 60 million light-years. The newly uncovered structure does probably extend further, beyond the field probed by the team, and hence future observations have already been planned to obtain a definite measure of its size.

The team is composed of Masayuki Tanaka (ESO), Alexis Finoguenov (Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany and University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA), Tadayuki Kodama (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan), Yusei Koyama (Department of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Japan), Ben Maughan (H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, UK) and Fumiaki Nakata (Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan).

[jjohnson]

To see so well, and to observe so poorly.

They are certainly coy about discussing of what this filamentary structure is composed, but not shy about guessing that clumps of galaxies are driven by "the fatal gravitational pull of the cluster". The post-Newtonian history of cosmology has been one of extending the perception that gravity is the dependable driver of galactic and stellar evolution, with an increasingly tortuous stack of tweaks and inspired invention to maintain the viewpoint. All this, while dismissing the obvious dilemmas and contradictions generated by the growing stream of evidence that local and inter-galactic-cluster electrical currents exist and generally control the plasma formation and evolution of the contents of the universe.

As Ian Tattersall wrote in his paleoanthropological history of early hominids, Extinct Humans, while discussing how scientists resist changes to their speculations on causes and happenings, "Once you're in the grips of it, it's hard to get out."

It sure is.

[junglelord]

Nice video of the sun expanding outward to the universal filament. Sweet.
http://www.space.com/common/media/video ... leUniverse

[jjohnson]

Sweet video, JL. I was thinking there toward the last few frames, still in our local super-cluster, that this brief journey could be extended indefinitely, and the pictures on the screen would only slowly change, and they would never repeat, and it would go on forever or until someone pulled the plug. To paraphrase Yoda, "There is no corner in the cosmos. There is only here!"

Galactic filamentation is only news to today's scientists who do not read the histories in their own line of work. Birkeland built working models that demonstrated it in the 1920's. Hannes Alfvén knew about it in the 50's. Anthony Peratt wrote, in the early 90's,

Nearly all the matter in the universe exists in the plasma state...occurring predominantly in this form in the Sun and stars and in interstellar space. Plasmas are prodigious producers of electromagnetic radiation. Because of their strong interaction with electromagnetism, plasmas display a complexity in structure and motion that far exceeds that found in matter in the gaseous, liquid or solid states...In addition to cellular morphology, plasmas often display a filamentary structure. This structure derives from the fact that plasma, because of its free electrons, is a good conductor of electricity, far exceeding the conducting properties of metals such as copper or gold. Wherever particles flow in a neutralizing medium, such as free electrons in a background of ions, the charged particle flow or current produces a ring of magnetic field around the current, pinching the current into filamentary strands of conducting currents.

The equations of state and the physics governing the plasma universe were laid out by Peratt to accompany his experiments, observations, interpretations, photos, and illustrations. The electric universe has been hidden in plain sight all of last century and on into this one for our scientists to grasp and run with. There is no excuse for the state of paralysis and indifference, in today's cosmology and astronomy, regarding these principles and tested and demonstrated ideas. They should be grabbing them and running with the ball, instead of feeling their way in the dark. -so to speak

[Harry Costas]

G'day

Yes all matter can be defined as plasma and yet we still need to define the phase.

As for a fatal gravitational pull by the AGN at the centre of galaxies.

We sometimes forget the huge jets that it creates in recycling matter and ejecting it far far away to distant galaxies affecting not only the local but the galaxies that cluster.

A fatal for one and birth for the other.

Seems nature is at work.

[jjohnson]

Giday, Harry,

Nature's always at work, whether we observe it or agree with it or disregard it or not. What do you mean by defining the phase of the plasma - its mode (i.e., dark, glow arc? Or some other phase of its existence, like... ? Thanks!

Jim