Eighty Percent of Light In The Universe Is Missing

[direkiller]

It's the Reapers, they're going around gobbling up stars to charge their power cells!

Seriously though...the only thing I can think of is a stupidly obvious theory that I'd imagine the scientists have already dismissed: light sources burn out. They said they noticed the trend in our area, but not in "younger" areas of the universe? That implies that our area is "older", and as such would have "older" stars...which in turn increases the likelihood of said stars burning out.

I'm, of course, no astro-physicist and have absolutely no scientific background or evidence to base this theory upon, but that simple explanation makes sense to me. :3

Uh, wouldnt the star stop making ultra-violet light when it dies? And even if it's the leftover gas and dust from after it died that's making the UV light, we should still be able to see it.

Does ionized hydrogen ever "un-ionize"? Honestly I don't know so feel free to correct me with actual Science if you can. But if it retains it's charge then then we could be looking at some very old ionized hydrogen.

Okay, I actually read the article now.

They seem to be saying that when hydrogen atoms are struck by ultraviolet light, they turn from electrically neutral atoms to charged ions.

The problem is that they're seeing way too much hydrogen ions and way to few UV light sources to account for the hydrogen ions.

So we are looking at ionized hydrogen. but that doesnt solve the problem because ionized hydrogen cant ionize non ionized hydrogen.

Which is why I'm asking if ionized hydrogen ever loses it's charge

Yes
plasma balls/Northen Lights are basically the same thing, it just takes longer because there is a lack of stuff to pawn energy off on to, so it has to radiate out.
When it loses enough energy(~1kev) it will stop being ionized.

 

[dharmaBum0]

Another JJ Abrams Star Trek will leave us in absolute darkness.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Um . . . we're not missing light, we're missing light *sources.* Big difference there.

 

[Something Amyss]

Another JJ Abrams Star Trek will leave us in absolute darkness.

The Doctor said he was going into Darkness. I think this is just a Doctor Who PR stunt.

 

[Shinkicker444]

It's the C'tan, clearly.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

It's the C'tan, clearly.

Yeah, yeah Burnsey, we believe you, trying to push the blame elsewhere.

 

[Shinkicker444]

It's the C'tan, clearly.

Yeah, yeah Burnsey, we believe you, trying to push the blame elsewhere.

I'm quite sure I don't know what the devil you are talking about. >.>

 

[Remus]

Anti-light particles cancelling out the light perhaps? Lets call them notons.

 

[symphonymarie]

Didn't they just observe photons essentially "time travelling" recently? Maybe this is where they're all going. (Joke.)
If it's related to dark matter, that would be really exciting. Perhaps this discovery will aid us in our research regarding that. I think I recall reading somewhere that a current theory regarding dark matter is that it is composed of quirky neutrinos, and somehow the decay of dark matter was related to x-rays. Perhaps this is related to something similar?
I'm not a scientist in the least though, so this probably doesn't make any sense. I love this sort of speculation though! Yeaaah space!

 

[Strazdas]

Didn't they just observe photons essentially "time travelling" recently? Maybe this is where they're all going. (Joke.)

that was confirmed to be a calculation/measurement error. they timed it wrong and thought it time traveled.

 

[dontlooknow]

Did anyone else get completely distracted and a little worried when the article mentioned the scientist'a name? I'm not saying he's unfit for the job or anything but I'd be worried if I ever saw that man... with a hat-on.

 

[FalloutJack]

It's the Shadow-Stealers...

We're experiencing light-sources from a long time ago from, say, stars that may have gone out. Our perception of time and what's there in the universe is delayed by distance. I say there are aliens draining the light-sources to feed themselves, thus we have our descrepency.

 

[Kaymish]

i reckon its just a bug in the simulation if we talk about it enough maybe the devs will sort out a hotfix in a few million years or so

 

[Roofstone]

..Yes! I know some of those words!

I really have no idea what is going on. Does this mean anything at all? Or am I just dumb?

 

[J Tyran]

It's the C'tan, clearly.

The Yngir come to bring peace to the temporary chaos and pain that is life, space, time and eternity is the gift they will bring to those willing to shed fragile temporal mortality.

 

[Fanghawk]

..Yes! I know some of those words!

I really have no idea what is going on. Does this mean anything at all? Or am I just dumb?

Think of the universe as someone who has a massive sunburn, but it's been cloudy for weeks.

Where'd the burn come from? Is there light coming through the clouds that we can't see? Or has the universe been heavily abusing its tanning bed? Science doesn't know yet!

 

[Basement Cat]

Please, everyone, please!

It's the Illithid who are responsible for the loss of the light. It's one of their goals: Darken the light--extinguish the suns!

That, or Cthulhu done it. ^_^

 

[symphonymarie]

Didn't they just observe photons essentially "time travelling" recently? Maybe this is where they're all going. (Joke.)

that was confirmed to be a calculation/measurement error. they timed it wrong and thought it time traveled.

I am so very sad to hear that!

 

[Akisa]

i reckon its just a bug in the simulation if we talk about it enough maybe the devs will sort out a hotfix in a few million years or so

Nah sometimes those hotfix patches are quick. Look at the age of miracles, those patches took like a thousand or two thousand years. And the age of Jesus was fixed in less than 30 years.