Big Bang's Afterglow Fails an Intergalactic Shadow Test
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The apparent absence of shadows from galaxy clusters where shadows were expected to be is raising new questions about the faint glow of microwave radiation once hailed as proof that the universe was created by a ‘Big Bang.’ In a finding sure to cause controversy, scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville found a lack of evidence of shadows from ‘nearby’ clusters of galaxies using new, highly accurate measurements of the cosmic microwave background. … Up to now, all the evidence that the microwave radiation originated from as far back in time as the Big Bang fireball has been circumstantial. However, if you see a shadow, it means the radiation comes from behind the cluster. If you don't see a shadow, then you have something of a problem. Among the 31 clusters studied, some show a shadow effect and others do not. Taken together, the data shows a shadow effect about one-fourth of what was predicted - an amount roughly equal in strength to natural variations previously seen in the microwave background across the entire sky. So either it (the microwave background) isn't coming from behind the clusters, which means the Big Bang is blown away, or ... there is something else going on. Maybe the clusters themselves are microwave emitting sources. But based on all that we know about radiation sources and halos around clusters, this kind of emission is not expected, and it would be implausible to suggest that several clusters could all emit microwaves at just the right frequency and intensity to match the cosmic background radiation.” The shadow effect is better known as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, or “S-Z effect” for short.
É claro que sempre é possível imaginar que "something else is going on"... e dá-lhe
ad-hoc. Não que
ad-hocs não sejam comum em Ciência, mas abusar deles é aceitar o fraco poder de previsão da teoria.