Fantastic European Space Agency photo shows light from the time of the Big Bang [Astronomy]

Oh, the joy this photo brings me. It was taken by the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope over the period of a year, and it shows, among other treasures, some of the oldest light in the universe. We’re talking light from right around the time of the Big Bang, light that’s 13.7 billion years old. I dare you to look at this and not be completely amazed.


A little big of explanation may be necessary.

The center disc-like structure? That’s the Milk Way—that’s us! If you look closely, you can see me collecting flowers in Red Dead Redemption.



Off toward the right are the stars that make up the Orion constellation. To the left, Perseus.

Now, here’s where it gets good. You see the comparatively sparse areas on the top and bottom? That would cosmic background microwave radiation, present since the time of the Big Bang.

Tremendous in every sense of the word.

Back to flower collecting…


[CrunchGear]

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Black Holes May All Contain Other Universes [The Universe]

It's mind blowin' time! According to a new theory, every black hole contains a smaller alternate universe. And our universe might just exist inside a black hole in a much larger universe. Ah-whaaaaaa?

According to Indiana University physicist Nikodem Poplawski, the matter that black holes absorb don't condense into singularities. Instead, they pop out the other side and become the building blocks for whole other universes in another reality.

This would explain what happened before our Big Bang: it popped out of a black hole from another, much larger universe. Everything came out of a 'white hole,' if you will.

Gamma ray bursts occur at the fringes of the known universe. They appear to be associated with supernovae, or star explosions, in faraway galaxies, but their exact sources are a mystery. (Related: 'Gamma-Ray Burst Caused Mass Extinction?')

Poplawski proposes that the bursts may be discharges of matter from alternate universes. The matter, he says, might be escaping into our universe through supermassive black holes-wormholes-at the hearts of those galaxies, though it's not clear how that would be possible.

'It's kind of a crazy idea, but who knows?' he said.

Yeah, kind of!

[Gizmodo via National Geographic via The Daily What]

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