Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

What the blackness in space is

Failure of the Hubble telescope

 If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on.  - Image by Rick Geary
If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on.

“MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE: University of Washington astrophysicist Dr. Bruce H. Magon, quoted by The New York Times on the continuing inability of science to measure or infer what the ‘blackness’ in space is, even though, by its properties, they know it must be matter: ‘It’s a fairly embarrassing situation to admit that we can’t find 90 percent of the universe.’ ” Dear Matthew Alice: What did you do with it? — Nameless, downtown

Sponsored
Sponsored

Huh? Me? Why’s it have to be me? The Matthew Alice Select Subcommittee on Morality, Ethics, and Public Displays of Idiotic Behavior is looking into this recent outbreak of Matt-bashing, and your newspaper clipping and note are going right into the pile with the others. You’ve been warned. As for this lost-universe glitch, I don’t feel sorry for Bruce or any of his friends. If they had just left Hubble to cruise around squinting through its little astigmatic lenses, they wouldn’t be quite so deep in this cosmological fix. For a couple of decades, astronomers and others have been searching for the mass they claim must be out there, somewhere, to account for the shapes and motions of galaxies. The stars and gas clouds they’ve identified so far just won’t cut it. Lots of hopes were pinned on the Hubble telescope to spot jillions of red dwarfs (the menudo of astronomy— dim stars), which they suspected were the missing mass. But unless the dwarfs are a lot dimmer than anticipated, Hubble says they’re not there. If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on. Personally, I think we’ve just mislaid the universe. It’ll show up when we finally get around to cleaning out the garage.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
 If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on.  - Image by Rick Geary
If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on.

“MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE: University of Washington astrophysicist Dr. Bruce H. Magon, quoted by The New York Times on the continuing inability of science to measure or infer what the ‘blackness’ in space is, even though, by its properties, they know it must be matter: ‘It’s a fairly embarrassing situation to admit that we can’t find 90 percent of the universe.’ ” Dear Matthew Alice: What did you do with it? — Nameless, downtown

Sponsored
Sponsored

Huh? Me? Why’s it have to be me? The Matthew Alice Select Subcommittee on Morality, Ethics, and Public Displays of Idiotic Behavior is looking into this recent outbreak of Matt-bashing, and your newspaper clipping and note are going right into the pile with the others. You’ve been warned. As for this lost-universe glitch, I don’t feel sorry for Bruce or any of his friends. If they had just left Hubble to cruise around squinting through its little astigmatic lenses, they wouldn’t be quite so deep in this cosmological fix. For a couple of decades, astronomers and others have been searching for the mass they claim must be out there, somewhere, to account for the shapes and motions of galaxies. The stars and gas clouds they’ve identified so far just won’t cut it. Lots of hopes were pinned on the Hubble telescope to spot jillions of red dwarfs (the menudo of astronomy— dim stars), which they suspected were the missing mass. But unless the dwarfs are a lot dimmer than anticipated, Hubble says they’re not there. If everybody had just left the scope alone, they’d at least have the theory to fall back on. Personally, I think we’ve just mislaid the universe. It’ll show up when we finally get around to cleaning out the garage.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Next Article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader