The universe is a fascinating place and there never seems to be a lack of material to write about. We've gotten to the point in our history where new planets are being discovered weekly and I think we're beginning to realize that the universe probably has at least three or four planets for every star out there, on average. Actually we could still have it all wrong, it might turn out that there might be some solar systems out there that even have hundreds of planets, of course this would be denied by scientists as being impossible, but there may be some known factors that would make it possible after all. We are learning a lot every day about the universe, but there is still so much more to learn. It could turn out that what we don't know completely eclipses what we do know and it can also turn out that what we think we know is completely wrong. After all there have been many theories in the field of science, over hundreds of years, that dealt with the same occupancies and these theories eventually were pushed to the wayside or refined to a point where they were un recognizable. This certainly would not be the first time that science was wrong and I am sure that it will not be the last. I am more or less talking about what exists in space and how it came into being, I think it is now time for us to look at what has been happening lately.

Anybody that has been interested in the heavens and in astronomy and even physicists for that matter, has heard scientists talk about missing matter. Even Einstein found that his theory of the universe didn't work unless there was matter that we didn't know about. Scientists have recently stated that they think they have found much of the missing matter in the universe. So where is this matter hiding? They claim that it is in the form of gas in filaments which connect galaxy clusters and is hidden from direct observation in enormous clouds of gas. To prove their theory, a team of scientists performed one of the biggest supercomputer simulations ever accomplished. The simulation contained 2.5% of the entire visible universe and spanned a simulated 1.5 billion light years across. The computer code required almost 10 years to write. The scientists claim that the code included virtually all of the known physical conditions of the universe extending back to almost the big bang. They stated that the standard model of the universe consists of 25% black matter, 70% dark energy and 5%.normal matter. The normal matter consists of something called baryons, there is hydrogen, helium and heavier elements. Here is where they say is the rub. They claim that 40% of baryons are unaccounted for and that these baryons are in filaments that are undetectable right now, with our current technology. They state that new telescopes coming on line might be able to detect them. I think that this is a very interesting theory, but I have to wonder if maybe some of the missing matter is really embedded in heavenly bodies that are much more dense than we imagine? I guess we will begin to find out the answer to this problem in the next few years. So how much data have the scientists obtained from their simulation? It was equivalent to four times all the digital texts and all the volumes that are in the US Library of Congress. That should keep them busy for awhile.

Scientists believe that our universe is a very violent place and even held a conference to talk about this fact. A couple of the things that they found were rogue black holes that roam through our very own galaxy and swallow planets that they get too close to. New stars seem to exist that are just floating through space on their own. Everybody seems to have a theory about these things, that even includes me and maybe many of you. If we go back say 10 or 15 years we can talk about bizarre discoveries that astronomers thought were quite unusual, but turned out to be a lot more ordinary than anyone would have ever thought. This has all been brought about by the advent of new and far more powerful telescopes, that allow astronomers to see many many more objects in space. The thing is, the more we see, the more we find other puzzles It is almost like every time we make an improvement leap in our observing ability, we also raise more questions. One of the things we have learned is that there is a gigantic gas cloud, that has a mass one million times greater than our sun, that is heading for our galaxy at 150 miles per second. Astronomers tell us that even it cannot possibly reach us for another 40 million years and even when it does, it will hit a remote part of the galaxy and not effect us except as a distant light show. Astronomers also discussed the fact that there was a lot of violet behavior going on in a densely packed super galaxy. They felt that some of this violence was caused by dark matter. The super galaxy was caused by the collision between a larger and smaller galaxy and the small galaxy is still ripping it's way through. It has often been said that if a galaxy collides with the Milky Way, there is a very good chance it could pass right through without effecting us at all, because there is so much space between stars.

Scientists are still uneasy about the fact that an asteroid came up behind the earth without being detected until it was almost upon us and then headed toward the planet Mars. It is claimed that the asteroid was only about 160 feet wide and the original proposition was that it might hit Mars, or should I say that it had a slim chance of hitting Mars has been revised. It is now said that it certainly will not hit Mars. The thing that frightens most scientists is not the fact that the object was going to crash into Mars at all, it was the fact that it got so close to us before we even knew that it existed. For years it has been known that not enough of the sky is being observed to prevent this from happening .If we are going to have a chance to protect ourselves from these space rocks\ we need a more efficient system for detecting them.

A new theory that he states is that anywhere a planet can possibly form, it will. Based on his theory, astronomers are now predicting that there is an unknown planet circling a star that is 200 light years from the earth. To prove that this theory works, they first tried it out in an area where planets were known to exist and it turned out to be correct. Of course there was a lot more to this than just saying planets are where they already knew they existed, the scientists actually calculated that planets would exist and the calculations proved to be correct. One of the astronomers that took part in these calculations, stated that planets orbit as closely packed together as they can. We know that if planets get too close to each other they will disrupt each other's orbits. Stated simply here is how the theory works, if they find planets that they feel have orbits that are too far apart, they then begin to look for a planet in between. I hope that this is not an over simplification, but I think it gives you an idea of what they are doing. They tried this theory out on planets orbiting the star D 74156, it indicated that another planet was in between in a central orbit between the two planets. This was confirmed by observations that were taken after the prediction. "For whatever reason, it seems that planetary formation is a somewhat efficient process. Wherever there is room for a planet to form, it is there; and observers can try and find it,"

Just to show you how these theories go, scientists had been arguing over a particular source of gamma rays that are linked to the high energy collision of fundamental particles in the center of our galaxy. They just couldn't agree on what the source of these gamma rays was. Each group of scientists thought that they were absolutely correct in what they were proposing, but as we all know, when there are several different answers at most only one can be the correct answer. Some scientists argued that the source of these rays came from a process called nucleosynthesis, which is basically a reaction within stars that forges heavier elements. Others proposed that the stream of rays came from neutron stars, black holes and white dwarfs .Then there was the group that blamed dark matter, after all you had to get dark matter into this argument. Well it looks like everybody was wrong. The source of the cosmic rays has been traced to two stars that are circling each other and sucking the very material out of each other, causing the deadly rays.

This is exactly what I was talking about before. There is no shortage of theories in science and even if one theory lasts for a hundred years, it certainly doesn't mean that it is correct. Once we move out of the realm of theories and can actually prove why a process takes place, then this is an entirely different matter. I guess for now we will have to be content with theories, because it is certainly going to be a long time before we ever understand the entire workings of the universe