Mind Probe

For a long time, I have had a difficult believing in dark matter.  It strikes me as being the 20th and 21st Century version of aether from the 19th Century.  Before going into why I do not believe in the current theory of Dark Matter, let this first posting describe the data that lead to the theory of Dark Matter.

Galaxy Rotational Problem

When the velocity of stellar orbits around the center of their galaxy was measured, it was discovered that the stars at the edge of galaxies were moving too fast.  The orbital speed is dependent on the gravitational force of the galaxy which, in turn, is dependent on the mass of the galaxy.  In galaxy after galaxy, the outer stars were traveling at orbital speeds that were too high to match the observable mass of each galaxy.

Global Clusters

Global Clusters orbit galaxies.  Like the stars at the edge of galaxies, the global clusters show a stronger interaction with their associated galaxy than the observable mass of the galaxy would predict.  This appears to me as the same effect as the stars at the edge of galaxy but is often listed separately since it indicates that the size of galaxies is bigger than their observable sizes.

Gravitational Lensing

The measured results of gravitational lensing, the amount that light bends around galaxy and galaxy clusters is greater than the predicted amount due to the observable mass of the galaxies and clusters.

Galaxy Formation and Groups

Present Big Bang theories require dark matter to result in the formation of galaxies and groups of galaxies.  I am uncertain if this is considered an observation or using an existing theory to make another theory work.

Summary

In this posting, I have tried to present the data as I understand it that has resulted in the theory of dark matter.  There is other data that I did not present here such as the pioneer satellite velocity abnormality.  Please let me know of other observational data that supports dark matter as well as theories that depend on dark matter.

In my next dark matter posting, I will go over the reasons why I find dark matter difficult to believe in.  Following posting will discuss different theories that do not involve dark matter to explain the data.

I welcome comments that support my ideas or explain what is wrong with my ideas, why are they wrong, and/or what facts and data am I missing or misunderstanding. Comments should support their stand on the pros and cons.

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The Destiny’s Children series by Stephen Baxter consists of four books, “Coalescent“, “Exultant“, “Transcendent” and “Resplendent“. I have read the first three. The fourth book may not be directly available in the United States; as far as I can tell, it is only published by a UK publisher. Used copies of the fourth book are available from Amazon.com. If anyone know if Resplendent has been published in the United States or why it has not, I would love to hear about it.

The first three books are loosely related to each other. They take place in the same Universe, there are cross over with some characters, references to events in one book in the others. Each book is a complete story unlike some series today which are actually a single novel published in six parts. Since I have not read the fourth book in the series, my comments will be limited to just the first three books.

The first and third books contain two main threads that take place at different times and end up converging on each other. In Coalescent, one thread takes place around the fifth century when the Roman Empire withdrew from the British Isles and the second thread takes place in our near future. In Transcendent, the two time lines are about 40 years after the near future events of the first book and 500 million years in the future. The main character of the third book, who is in his 50′s in the third book and in his early teens in the first book, is the nephew of the main character of the first book and there are scenes with the nephew and uncle together in both books. The second book, Exultant takes place about 20 thousand years in our future when humankind is at war with a superior race called the Xeelee. The concept of the first book, what is a coalescent, is one of the themes that ties the first three books together.

All in all, it is a series that challenges the reader with ideas more than action though there are action sequences, especially during the war with the Xeelee. The books explore concepts of human societies with variations, family relations and how a galactic culture can function by placing you in the middle of the stories, allowing you to observe these concepts in action. I recommend this series to those who want to expand their mind around interesting concepts and if you are a Stephen Baxter fan, they are a must read.

There are technologies and alien races in this series that Stephen Baxter has used in other works. The Xeelee come to mind plus the Ghosts are races encountered in other books. Spline ships are just one of the technologies that appear through Baxter’s stories. One book does stick out as being a forerunner to this series; Vacuum Diagrams. This book collects the Xeelee short stories and turns them into a novel. This book also has the character Michael Poole who is the main character in Transcendent. The history of the Universe is different between Vacuum Diagrams and the Destiny’s Children series. For one thing, Michael Poole lived in the 21 century in the series and was born 3621 A.D. in Vacuum Diagrams.

The last think that I want to say is that the first book makes a reference to naked mole rats – cool!