←back to thread

James Webb Space Telescope reveals that most galaxies rotate clockwise

(www.smithsonianmag.com)
352 points instagraham | 2 comments | 31 Mar 25 10:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.576s | source
Show context
keyle ◴[31 Mar 25 10:59 UTC] No.43533500[source]▶
Potentially a very dumb question, but seeing the difference between cyclones and hurricane on earth (clock-wise, anti-clock-wise)...

Does it mean that we are, potentially, on one of two poles(?) of the observable universe, if we're observing most galaxies around us rotating a certain way?

replies(14): >>43533840 #>>43533853 #>>43533969 #>>43533992 #>>43534000 #>>43534001 #>>43534401 #>>43534594 #>>43535729 #>>43537965 #>>43538321 #>>43539059 #>>43539378 #>>43539557 #
permo-w ◴[31 Mar 25 12:07 UTC] No.43534001[source]▶
maybe this is a stupid question, but is it possible that the big bang simply had some kind of clockwise angular momentum to it? how different is that idea from the black hole cosmology concept? I don't really understand how the two fit together
replies(2): >>43534201 #>>43535018 #
ziofill ◴[31 Mar 25 13:47 UTC] No.43535018[source]▶
It’s different because it’s simpler to assume that the total angular momentum of the universe is zero. If one black hole is rotating one way there must be other stuff rotating the other way to counterbalance. If you assume instead that the whole universe has angular momentum, well, where did that come from?
replies(3): >>43535206 #>>43535754 #>>43536094 #
1. weberer ◴[31 Mar 25 15:23 UTC] No.43536094[source]▶
>If you assume instead that the whole universe has angular momentum, well, where did that come from?

You can say the exact same thing about mass. Obviously it came from somewhere. And it could have taken angular momentum with it.

replies(1): >>43542123 #
2. paulrouget ◴[01 Apr 25 02:13 UTC] No.43542123[source]▶
It split. The counter part is antimatter. And there’s more matter than antimatter.

So it’s a similar question. Where does this asymmetry come from.