Our solar system might be moving quicker than expected
What's the story
A team of researchers led by astrophysicist Lukas Bohme from Bielefeld University has challenged the established standard model of cosmology with new findings. The study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, reveals that our solar system is moving more than three times faster than current models predict. This discovery contradicts expectations based on standard cosmology and calls for a reevaluation of previous assumptions about our cosmic neighborhood's motion.
Methodology
How did researchers determine solar system's speed?
To measure the solar system's speed, the team studied radio galaxies, distant galaxies that emit strong radio waves. These waves can penetrate dust and gas that block visible light, allowing radio telescopes to detect otherwise invisible galaxies. As the solar system moves through the universe, it creates a slight "headwind," making more radio galaxies appear in its direction of travel. This difference is minute and can only be detected with highly sensitive measurements.
Data collection
Researchers used data from 3 radio telescopes
The researchers used data from the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) telescope, a Europe-wide radio telescope network, and two other radio observatories to make an especially precise count of such radio galaxies for the first time. They applied a new statistical method considering that many radio galaxies have multiple components. This improved analysis yielded larger but more realistic measurement uncertainties.
Findings
Study reveals statistically significant deviation
The combination of data from all three radio telescopes showed a deviation greater than five sigma, a statistically strong signal considered scientific evidence for a significant result. The measurement showed an anisotropy ("dipole") in the distribution of radio galaxies that is 3.7 times stronger than what the standard model of the universe predicts. This model describes the origin and evolution of the cosmos since the Big Bang, and assumes a largely uniform distribution of matter.
Implications
Study questions fundamental assumptions about universe's structure
Professor Dominik J. Schwarz, a cosmologist at Bielefeld University and co-author of the study, said if the solar system is indeed moving this fast, it challenges fundamental assumptions about large-scale structure of the universe. He added that alternatively, radio galaxies' distribution might be less uniform than previously believed. Either way, current models are being tested by these new results which confirm earlier observations studying quasars, extremely bright centers of distant galaxies where supermassive black holes consume matter and emit energy.