Wormhole may exist at center of our galaxy Posted on Thursday, 22 January, 2015 A wormhole could enable space travel over vast distances. Image Credit: NASA A new study has opened up the possibility that the center of our galaxy is actually a massive wormhole. A science fiction staple, wormholes are theoretical shortcuts through the fabric of spacetime that could enable a spacecraft to travel from one part of the universe to another in a matter of seconds without having to go through the space in between. Even though no direct evidence of wormholes exists physicists have long speculated over the possibility. Even Albert Einstein proposed the idea of wormholes in his theory of General Relativity. Now thanks to a new study however the case for the existence of these theoretical portals has been given a significant boost. Astrophysicists from India, Italy and the US have published a new paper with mathematical evidence suggesting that the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy might actually be a gigantic wormhole. While the paper doesnt definitively prove that wormholes exist it does open up the door to a renewed interest in seeking out direct observations of these enigmatic objects. Recommended further reading: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson Our result is very important because it confirms the possible existence of wormholes in most of the spiral galaxies, the researchers wrote. If this turned out to be the case then it might even be possible that we are sitting on a veritable intergalactic travel hub that future explorers could use to reach even the most distant of galaxies. Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi flick “Interstellar” might get some free promotion from a new scientific study suggesting that wormholes — space portals into other dimensions — could actually be a part of our galaxy. A paper published in the journal Annals of Physics suggests that dark matter in the center of the Milky Way might be a wormhole that humans can enter and travel to...who knows where (or when). This theory of awesomeness provides several formulas to argue it’s mathematically possible for there to be a wormhole waiting for us in the Milky Way. This portal could be as big as the galaxy itself, and if it exists, we are able to navigate it, the study says. “Our result is very important because it confirms the possible existence of wormholes in most of the spiral galaxies,” the researchers write in their conclusion. MELINDA SUE GORDON/PARAMOUNT PICTURES One of the researchers said this theoretical wormhole is identical to the one characters navigate in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi film “Interstellar.” They add they hope the study will push this portal talk beyond math and “encourage scientists to seek observational evidence for wormholes.” One of the authors, Paolo Salucci, told Yahoo! News Canada the paper doesn’t definitively prove a Milky Way wormhole, but shows there’s theoretically potential for one to exist. This study builds on a previous one from the same team suggesting there was a massive black hole in our galaxy. Now they think that black hole is a wormhole. Albert Einstein proposed the existence of wormholes in his theory of General Relativity. Since then, they’ve been a traditional trope of time travel tales like last year’s space-bound blockbuster “Interstellar.” But there’s still been little scientific research showing such a thing exists. PARAMOUNT PICTURES See you on the other side: Wormholes theoretically allow people to travel through time and space. Salucci said the wormhole proposed in the paper is just like the ones in “Interstellar” that let characters dive into new dimensions and skip several years in a matter of hours. Nolan, who directed the film, reportedly collaborated with physicist Kip Thorne while making the movie to ensure its science was sound. Salucci said the timing of this study is just a coincidence. “Clearly we did it long before the film came out,” he said. The paper was produced by a team of five astrophysicists from India, Italy and Wisconsin.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 11:50:32 +0000
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