Supervoid Found in Pool Pocket of the Universe Containing no Perceivable Light or Matter

""Astronomers from the University of Hawaii who have recently been studying what they believed was the largest detected structure in the universe have only actually found a 1.8 billion light year wide open space, not a "structure."

The Astronomers where trying to figure out why galaxies were missing from a portion of the sky being observed that was expected to have about 10,000 galaxies.

What can now be known as a "supervoid" was distinctive for its unexpected emptiness, it is "the largest individual structure ever identified by humanity,"said the studies leader István Szapudi of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Szapudi's research team was looking at the region that was lately found to be an area where the cosmic microwave background radiation is much cooler than the average background temperatures that surround. Astronomers have named this phenomenon a "Cold Spot."

The existence of such a large, cold area was unpredictable as most models of the evolution of the universe determine that after the Big Bang, there were some hot and cold regions in the early days of the universe, but nothing on the scale of this Cold Spot.

Researchers argue that this could be some kind of Cold Spot or empty hole because they say that their "supervoid" is sucking energy out of the cosmic radiational background that travels around it.

This supervoid is located 3 billion light years from Earth and was found in analyzing data from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope located on Maui in Hawaii and from NASA's Wide Field Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite.

The supervoid is unexpected given the usual even distribution of the universe at the scale the empty region occupies, the researchers say.

"This is the greatest supervoid ever discovered," says Kovács. "In combination of size and emptiness, our supervoid is still a very rare event. We can only expect a few supervoids this big in the observable universe.""

http://www.natureworldreport.com/2015/04/20/astronomers-stumble-upon-eerie-section-of-universe-containing-absolutely-nothing/

Redrawing The Arctic Map: The New North Getting To Grips With a Changing Polar Landscape <> Scientific Challenges in the Arctic: Open Water As the Ice Melts, Fresh Obstacles Confront Arctic Researchers

""The Arctic covers around 5% of the planet's surface, but it is capturing a disproportionate amount of attention. With temperatures rising at twice the global rate, the region's summer sea ice is shrinking rapidly, making access easier than ever before. At the same time, countries are racing to claim parts of the Arctic's sea floor and the vast deposits of hydrocarbons that lie beneath it.

Disappearing sea ice 

Since satellite observations started in 1979, the September sea-ice extent has declined by 12% per decade, and the past 5 years have marked the lowest on record. The ice cover is thinning (see graph), making it more vulnerable to warmer temperatures. Forecasts by climate models (see graph) suggest that summer sea ice will largely disappear in the second half of the century, but the current rate of ice loss exceeds the models' forecasts, suggesting that ice-free conditions could arrive sooner.""

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111012/full/478172a.html

""Last month, US researchers took a 4,000-tonne gamble when they steered the Marcus G. Langseth through the Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean. The 72-metre research vessel was not built to plow through ice, so it had never ventured that far poleward before.

But the rules are changing quickly in the new north. Managers at the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the ship, decided to send the Langseth into the Arctic after reviewing satellite images that showed that the intended survey area in the Chukchi Sea had been largely clear of ice for four of the past five summers.

In an e-mail to Nature during the cruise, its principal investigator, Bernard Coakley, said: "We are rolling the dice a bit to take her up north." But the bet paid off for Coakley, a marine geologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sea-ice coverage was at near-record lows this summer, and the Langseth — due back in dock this week — has not encountered any troubling ice.

With the Arctic warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the globe, there is more need than ever to monitor the changing conditions there. And the retreating summer sea ice is opening up new options for scientists who want to explore the once difficult-to-reach Arctic waters, allowing them, for example, to use vessels other than icebreakers.

But the scientists are not alone. Businesses, too, are racing to exploit the Arctic — for tourism, fishing, transportation and, especially, resources such as hydrocarbons. According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic could hold up to 30% of the world's undiscovered gas and as much as 13% of its undiscovered oil¹.

Online collection

Governments keen to access this wealth are stepping up their activities in the area as a prelude to claiming rights to resources in vast swathes of territory under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). When Russia planted a flag on the sea bed under the North Pole in 2007, many people saw the action as a symbolic statement about the country's territorial ambitions — a view bolstered this July when Russia pledged to station two brigades permanently in the Arctic. The next month, Canada launched its annual sovereignty operation in the Arctic and claimed that it now had more military capability in the region than ever before.""

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111012/full/478174a.html