Ryan’s will.Klaus Wedfeld/Getty Images
Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a hole? Newsflash: Yes, you are. Astronomers call it a “local hole,” but that’s quite an understatement. It’s vast, it’s gigantic, it’s gigantic – but the truth is, adjectives are inapplicable when it comes to this expanse of nothingness. It is the largest cosmic cavity known to us, spanning 2 billion light years. Our galaxy happens to be near its center, but the problem with this hole is not that it poses any immediate danger, but rather that it shouldn’t exist.
The question is whether one of our most firmly held beliefs about the universe is true. This assumption, known as the cosmological principle, states that matter in the universe should be uniformly distributed on the largest scale. It is the foundation upon which much of modern cosmology is built. If the void were real, the stone might have collapsed.
Because of this, few people dared to believe that the void could be real. But as evidence has grown in recent years, astronomers have moved from suspicion to reluctant acceptance. They discovered other similarly huge structures. So now the question is being asked with increasing urgency: If we are indeed living in a vacuum, do we need to significantly revise our cosmological model? That may include rethinking the nature of gravity, dark matter, or both.
The idea that the universe has the same properties from beginning to end can be traced back at least to Isaac Newton. He claimed that the motion of stars and planets could be explained…
Source: www.newscientist.com
