To Explain Away Dark Matter, Gravity Would Have To Be Really Weird

To discard the theory of dark matter, “you’ll need to replace it with something even more bizarre: a force of gravity that, at some distances, pulls massive objects together and, at other distances, pushes them apart.” That’s how Science magazine describes a new study, adding that “The analysis underscores how hard it is to explain away dark matter” — even though…

Surprisingly mature galaxies in the early universe

When the universe was only a tenth of its current age its galaxies experienced a growth spurt. It was this period that the scientists in the ALPINE project focused on when they used ESO’s ALMA telescope to carry out the first ever large survey of distant galaxies. To their surprise, these galaxies observed in the early stages of their life were…

Galaxies in the infant universe were surprisingly mature

Massive galaxies were already much more mature in the early universe than previously expected. This was shown by an international team of astronomers who studied 118 distant galaxies with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-galaxies-infant-universe-surprisingly-mature.html…

Metal-poor globular cluster forces astronomers to rethink theories

The discovery of the most metal-poor globular cluster recorded to date has forced scientists to rethink how both galaxies and globular clusters form. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/metal-poor-globular-cluster-ext8-found-in-andromeda-galaxy…

Spacecraft DAPPER will study ‘Dark Ages’ of the universe in radio waves

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has joined a new NASA space mission to the far side of the Moon to investigate when the first stars began to form in the early universe. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-spacecraft-dapper-dark-ages-universe.html…

Astronomers Spy a Milky Way-like Galaxy In the Very Early Universe

Slashdot reader sciencehabit quotes Science magazine: Astronomers imagine the early universe as a wild and lawless place, with chaotic fledgling galaxies full of swirling gases and frantic star formation. So an image released today comes as a surprise: a young galaxy, spied when the universe was just 10% of its current age, that looks remarkably like our calm and well-ordered Milky…

Astronomers spy a Milky Way look-alike 12 billion light-years away

This distant galaxy – SPT0418-47 – surprised astronomers by being organized enough to have a spinning disk and a galactic bulge, early in the history of our universe. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alma-distant-milky-way-lookalike-galaxy-spt0418-47…

Ancient serene galaxy suggests the early universe was eerily calm

A strange “coffee stain” galaxy in the early universe is much calmer than it ought to be, which may mean our ideas about a chaotic young universe could be wrong Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251569-ancient-serene-galaxy-suggests-the-early-universe-was-eerily-calm/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

ALMA sees most distant Milky Way look-alike

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the…

Gravity Error Detected?

jd (Slashdot reader #1,658) writes:
The large scale maps of the universe show something is seriously wrong with current models of gravity and dark matter. The universe simply isn’t clumping right and, no, it’s not the new improved formula. As you go from the early universe to the present day, gravity should cause things to clump in specific ways. It isn’t. Which…