WMAP, Dark Matter, & Dark Energy

[mrcurious]

What is WMAP showing me? What do those different tempature colorations represent? Does the red coloration represent hotbodies such as stars, galaxies & quasars? What does the dark coloration represent? Why does this map tell us that there is dark matter & dark energy? <br /><br />First off dark matter reminds me of the darkness in my closest.....light is neither emitted or absorbed...but, then there's the gravity effects of dark matter, which still lead me to believe that gravity is much stronger than we give it credit for. But, WMAP makes the strongest case for this to be untrue....why?<br /><br />Dark energy repels galaxies away from each other and causes the universe to expand. Again, another form of energy that we can't see, but it causes acceleration. WMAP also makes a strong case for its existence.....how? <br /><br />Also why does the WMAP image look like a globe.....how was this image achieved?<br /><br />If dark energy & matter are real, I would think this energy & matter comes from supermassive black holes at the core of galaxies. However, I'm sure thats wrong and we'll probably find that we need to modify our understanding of gravity.<br /><br />

 

[jimcolyer]

I am still not sure that dark matter and dark energy are real. Whatever happened to anti-matter?

 

[mrcurious]

Thats my whole point, I don't think its real, but the WMAP is supposed to be the best evidence we have to say that they are real. Unlike, antimatter though, we haven't been able to find any dark matter particles. We just know that there's extra gravity holding galaxies & galaxy clusters together......and that the universe is has an accelerated expansion from another unknown force.<br />

 

[alokmohan]

April 30, 2007<br />The race for the first direct detection of dark matter will move into a new phase in the coming months as the ZEPLIN-II instrument is joined by ZEPLIN-III, the world's most sensitive dark matter detector. http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5486<br /> <br /> <br />This cut-away drawing shows the inner workings of Zeplin-II, which is searching for dark matter in England's Boulby mine. Science and Technology Facilities Council <br />Dr Alexander Murphy, who presented the first results from the ZEPLIN-II detector at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Preston on 18th April said, "ZEPLIN-II is beginning its second search for dark matter particles, deep underground in a salt and potash mine in North Yorkshire, and we have been pouring through the first data looking for possible interactions with dark matter. Now, just last week, we've had the go-ahead to start operating our next generation detector, ZEPLIN-III. We will be tweaking both detectors to improve their sensitivity all the time and, over the next few months, we'll be able to see signals that are many times fainter. This will give us a fantastic chance of making the first direct detection of a dark matter particle."<br /><br />The ZEPLIN-II instrument holds 31 kg of liquid xenon, cooled to a temperature of -110º Celsius. Theory suggests that, from time to time, a dark matter particle will scatter from the <br />http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5486