Hubble makes 3D dark matter map

Astronomers have mapped the cosmic "scaffold" of dark matter upon which stars and galaxies are assembled. Dark matter does not reflect or emit detectable light, yet it accounts for most of the mass in the Universe.

The study, published in Nature journal, provides the best evidence yet that the distribution of galaxies follows the distribution of dark matter.

....It involved nearly 1,000 hours of observations with the Hubble Space Telescope.

According to one researcher, the findings provide "beautiful confirmation" of standard theories to explain how structures in the Universe evolved over billions of years.

*news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_enl_1168021092/img/1.jpg

*news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6235751.stm

For the skeptics, here are some more reading materials
NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter
Hubble Finds Evidence for Dark Energy in the Young Universe

G

good.....now if only someone can explain this in english or hindi plz

Ya, someone try explaining "Dark Matter" or "Black Hole" in Hindi. Fat chance that will ever happen.
@blackpearl-> Thanks for the post

Black Hole is actual something which you can refer to as a corpse of a dead star which has shrinked to such an extent that its gravitational force is millions of times that of the sun. Nothing can escape a black hole passing near it: not even light. The nearest black Hole from earth is around 5 Light years away.
Dark Matter is the substance which consist most of the mass of the universe yet it is unseen. It is probably the reason why the universe is pulling itself apart the process is actually accelerating on the basis of hubble's constant.

The above definations are only from my knowledge. Check some encyclopedia like www.wikipedia.com for more on these.
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An interesting fact: If you somehow manage to get into a blackhole, which you never can, you will see the back of your head ahead of you. This is because inside Light inside a balck hole doesnt travel in a straight line. rather it takes a curved trajectory.

Measurement of gravitational pull of the galaxies and other observations like the expanding universe suggests that there is more matter in the universe than actually detected. Simply put, the gravitational force exerted by the universe as a whole is a lot more than it should have given the amount of matter universe contains, since gravitational force is directly related to the amount of matter. This led scientist to predict that there must be more matter in this universe than detected. This hidden matter is termed "dark matter" and for some unknown reason cannot be seen or detected. But by measuring the influence this unseen matter has on light and other galaxies its possible to map this dark matter. Hubble has done precisely that by using a technique called "gravitational lensing" which involves measuring the degree of bending of light and some other stuff. This is the first time scientist are able to "see" dark matter; a big breakthrough for science.

soham said:
The nearest black Hole from earth is around 5 Light years away.

Are you sure, I thought Alpha Centauri the next nearst star is 5 light years away

hailgautam said:
Are you sure, I thought Alpha Centauri the next nearst star is 5 light years away

There resides a "Supermassive Blackhole" in the center of most galaxies, according to cosmologists. Even our Milky Way has one, but it's certainly not only 5 light-years away from us. Milky Way is at least 100,000 light-years in diameter, and our solar system is located on a distant spiral. We are at least 28,000 light-years away from the galactic core, and thus the SMB. Though, there are a few smaller black holes that are closer to us, but still in the 2,000-28,000 light-years range.

A little correction - The closest star next to our Solar system is not Alpha Centauri, but Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is 4.22 light-years away from us, while Alpha is 4.39 light-years distant.

^^Ah! Yes, right! Alpha is the brightest star as seen from Earth, I stand corrected.

Sorry it was actually 5000 Light Years. So the nearest Black Hole is 5000 Light Years away.

A black hole is an object predicted by general relativity,with a gravitational field so powerful that even electromagnetic radiation (including light itself) cannot escape its pull.
*upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/BH_LMC.png/270px-BH_LMC.png
*upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Black_Hole_Milkyway.jpg/250px-Black_Hole_Milkyway.jpg
Fig:- It is an artists imagination of black hole.

for more scientific details i will suggest u to *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gifread "A BREAF HISTORY
OF TIME" - S.Hawking