Good news! Universe not a fractal, study finds

[jobberone]

Stars crowd together into galaxies, galaxies assemble into clusters, and clusters amass to form superclusters. Astronomers, probing ever-larger volumes of the cosmos, have been surprised again and again to find matter clustering on ever-larger scales. This Russian-nesting-doll-like distribution of matter has led them to wonder whether the universe is a fractal: a mathematical object that looks the same at any scale, whether you zoom in or out.
If the fractal pattern continues no matter how far out you look, this would have profound implications for scientists' understanding of the universe. But now, a new astronomy survey refutes the notion.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/23/good-news-universe-not-fractal-study-finds/#ixzz24OR5tIGF
​

 

[masomenos]

I like to think that eventually we will have a deep enough and wide enough view of space to actually see the shape of the universe. Millions upon millions of points of light, staring back at us. As we gaze into the vast beauty, our eyes slightly cross and the it is...the face of bearded Zeus staring back at us in 3D MagicEye form.

After all, it's how we discovered dinosaurs:

 

[Rynie]

I like to think that eventually we will have a deep enough and wide enough view of space to actually see the shape of the universe. Millions upon millions of points of light, staring back at us. As we gaze into the vast beauty, our eyes slightly cross and the it is...the face of bearded Zeus staring back at us in 3D MagicEye form.

After all, it's how we discovered dinosaurs:

Pretty sure the universe doesn't have a "shape" since it's ever-expanding. I could be wrong though.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

So, once again, the Big Bang is safe.

You go, Big Bang! Somewhere, George Lemaitres is smiling.

 

[masomenos]

Pretty sure the universe doesn't have a "shape" since it's ever-expanding. I could be wrong though.

Um, clearly it has to be a 3D rectangle.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Don't you know? The Universe folds back on itself just like space does.

EDIT: Something like this. It's referred to as a Calabi-Yau shape.

 

[BlindFaith]

Don't you know? The Universe folds back on itself just like space does.

EDIT: Something like this. It's referred to as a Calabi-Yau shape.

So what's all the black stuff around this Calabi Universe? Omniverse?

Infinity is a hard concept to grasp.

 

[trickblue]

I like to think that eventually we will have a deep enough and wide enough view of space to actually see the shape of the universe. Millions upon millions of points of light, staring back at us. As we gaze into the vast beauty, our eyes slightly cross and the it is...the face of bearded Zeus staring back at us in 3D MagicEye form.

After all, it's how we discovered dinosaurs:

The universe is nothing more than a giant stereogram... awesome... :laugh2:

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I like to think that eventually we will have a deep enough and wide enough view of space to actually see the shape of the universe. Millions upon millions of points of light, staring back at us. As we gaze into the vast beauty, our eyes slightly cross and the it is...the face of bearded Zeus staring back at us in 3D MagicEye form.

After all, it's how we discovered dinosaurs:

I'm going with this guy.