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Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope recently revealed an intriguing trend. A surprisingly high proportion of galaxies around us are rotating in the same direction. This has led astronomers to ask themselves: Is our universe located inside a black hole?
Two-thirds. According to a survey of more than 260 galaxies observed by the telescope, about two-thirds rotate clockwise, while the remaining third rotate counterclockwise.
263 galaxies. The data was collected as part of the James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), focused on a region of the universe near our galactic pole. Researchers identified the rotation direction of 263 galaxies, a number that has garnered significant attention from experts.
In a recent article published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Lior Shamir from Kansas State University highlighted this apparent imbalance and proposed several hypotheses to explain it.
Explaining the phenomenon. If the JADES sample accurately represents what occurs in the observable universe, it may suggest that galaxies have a “preference” for rotating in a certain direction. This could imply that the universe as a whole was “born” with a specific rotation.
According to Shamir, this rotation contradicts contemporary cosmological models, which could render them “incomplete” theories. However, this perspective aligns with the concept of “black hole cosmology.”
Black hole cosmology posits that the entire observable universe exists within a black hole. The model also considers the possibility that black holes in our universe may contain other universes within them.
Several hypotheses. While the black hole hypothesis may be the most intriguing, it’s not the only one. The suggestion of a preferred direction of rotation is based on the assumption that the observed sample is representative of the larger observable universe. However, the potential for bias in the sample can’t be dismissed.
Doppler effect. According to Shamir, the sample might overrepresent galaxies rotating in a specific direction. This is due to the Doppler effect. This change relates the frequency of waves reaching a point to the relative velocity between that point and the source of the wave emission. When the emitter and receiver are closer, the waves become compressed. In contrast, when they move apart, the wavelength increases.
This effect might be influencing the electromagnetic waves from these galaxies because our solar system is moving as it orbits the center of our galaxy. Shamir notes that galaxies rotating in the opposite direction to our planet’s rotation appear more luminous, making them easier to identify from our vantage point.
Previously, astronomers considered the rotational velocity of our planet too minimal to impact the data due to the Doppler effect. However, the data may also be indicating that this assumption is incorrect, suggesting that researchers need to recalibrate some of their measurements of the distant universe.
Image | Graham Holtshausen
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