Conflict with standard model of cosmology: Solar system is moving far too fast
Precise measurements from multiple radio telescopes strongly suggest that our solar system is moving far too fast for our models. There is no explanation.
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The solar system is moving through the universe more than three times faster than predicted by current models. This has been determined by a research team led by astrophysicist Lukas Böhme from the University of Bielefeld, according to whom the result “clearly” contradicts expectations based on the standard model of cosmology. The finding “forces us to reconsider previous assumptions,” he adds. According to this, if the discovery is confirmed, fundamental assumptions about the large-scale structure of the universe would have to be questioned. However, should it turn out that Earth, the Sun, and the remaining planets are not moving so fast after all, the finding now presented would still be a severe test for standard cosmology.
The basis for the work now presented was the analysis of the distribution of radio galaxies, i.e., galaxies that emit very strong radio signals. Unlike visible light, radio waves can penetrate dust and gas in intergalactic space, explains the university. Thus, even otherwise invisible galaxies can be detected this way. According to existing models, depending on the Earth's speed of movement, “minimally more radio galaxies” should appear in the direction of the Earth's movement, which the university compares to “weak headwind.” Instead, the particularly precise measurements and counts revealed an imbalance in the distribution of radio galaxies that was 3.7 times stronger than expected according to the standard model.
Severe test for standard cosmology
Because the research team combined data from three radio telescopes and evaluated it using an improved statistical method, the deviation has a statistical significance of five sigma. If the solar system is indeed moving as fast as the imbalance suggests, we must question fundamental assumptions about the cosmos, says co-author and cosmologist Dominik Schwarz. Alternatively, radio galaxies in the cosmos would be so unevenly distributed that previous models of the origin and development of the universe would also have to be put to the test. The work is presented in an article in Physical Review Letters.
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The research group further points out that their finding is not the first to point in this direction. A similar imbalance was found for quasars in an earlier analysis. Thus, the radiantly bright centers of distant galaxies are described, in which supermassive black holes accelerate matter so strongly that they glow extremely brightly. Data collected in the infrared spectrum on their distribution showed “the same unusual effect.” This suggests that the radioastronomical analysis is not based on a measurement error but that “a real feature of the universe” has been discovered here.
(mho)
