Go catch Pokemon in this, nerds: Our space neighborhood of 1.2m galaxies mapped in 3D

After ten years of work by hundreds of scientists, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III has produced the most complete map of our nearby universe covering over a million galaxies. "We have spent five years collecting measurements of 1.2 million galaxies over one quarter of the sky to map out the structure of the Universe over a …

[Destroy All Monsters]

Meditative Drone Tone

the size of baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) in galaxies as they expand out from the center of the universe

Unless that center lies literally somewhere along the fourth dimension (about 15 billion lightyears away, natch) there is something wrong here. Don't these BAOs appear as standing waves in the galaxy gas?

I like to think that somewhere in that large mapped volume, there is the perfect little italian village in which to pass one's vacation...

P.S. Here is Frank Wilczek talking about the energy content of the vacuum and reminiscing about Feynman.

[Geoff May (no relationship)]

"nearby universe covering over a million galaxies"

That statement puts fairy cake into perspective.

[Francis Boyle]

I recognise the hand of that well known cosmologist Jackson Pollock

And here I was thinking that the universe was all sort of melty, like a Dali.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: I recognise the hand of that well known cosmologist Jackson Pollock

Hmm. I'm more of a mind that the universe is something like a Magritte - perfectly normal and inconspicuous at first glance, totally weird and full of wondrous stuff at closer inspection.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: I recognise the hand of that well known cosmologist Jackson Pollock

"Hmm. I'm more of a mind that the universe is something like a Magritte - perfectly normal and inconspicuous at first glance, totally weird and full of wondrous stuff at closer inspection."

I'd have said it was more like Coprolite, although your description still seem to fit (at least for a certain type of bonekicker)

[[e-mail]]

Dark Matter? Modified Newtonian Dynamics?

How about "we really don't have a clue and maybe Einstein wasn't quite the genius we thought"? It seems to have worked fine for people to apply to the now-discredited religious view that Earth is the center of the Universe. For what they could see at the time, the clergy KNEW they were right. For what we can see now, some of us KNOW Einstein is right.

But for some of us, The Truth is still out there and will slowly be discovered as humanity grows up and stops acting like a bunch of petulant children arguing over whose imaginary friend is bigger...

[You aint sin me, roit]

Re: Dark Matter? Modified Newtonian Dynamics?

Albert "God doesn't play dice, no spooky actions, in/out cosmological constant" Einstein?

I still think he's quite the genius.

It's possible he didn't get anything right, but then that's the nature of the beast - edging (hopefully) towards a better understanding.

(Though I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that while our theories can very accurately describe what we see they bear no relation to what things actually are.)

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: Dark Matter? Modified Newtonian Dynamics?

"(Though I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that while our theories can very accurately describe what we see they bear no relation to what things actually are.)"

This. Right now it's a bit like looking at the shadow a book casts and trying to figure out what's written on its pages.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Dark Matter? Modified Newtonian Dynamics?

"Right now it's a bit like looking at the shadow a book casts and trying to figure out what's written on its pages."

Odd you should mention that. If you happen to have a handily convenient synchrotron in your back garden, it can help you read what is basically a shadow on a carbonised rolled up scroll as found in Herculaneum & Pompeii.

[Eldnah]

3D??

I tried for at least 10 minutes going cross-eyed to get that first picture to pop into 3D. No luck. Not even a chess piece or unicorn. Just a massive headache now. C'mon El Reg ... did you print it sideways or something?

Mine's the one with the red & blue glasses in the pocket ...

[Chavdar Ivanov]

Nitpicking...

s/650 cubic billion light years/650 billion cubic light years/.

[The Equestrian]

More Nitpicking...

Depends, are they counting cubes a billion light years an edge, 650 of them; or are they counting cubic light years, 650 billion of them.

If the former your change would reduce the volume the author states by a billion, billion cubic light years; if the latter then your change stands!