Submitted by bigk1974: Antimatter, which annihilates matter upon contact, seems to be rare in the universe. Still, for decades, scientists had clues that a vast cloud of antimatter lurked in space, but they did not know where it came from. The mysterious source of this antimatter has now been discovered — stars getting ripped apart by neutron stars and black holes. While antimatter propulsion systems are so far the stuff of science fiction, antimatter is very real. What it is: All elementary particles, such as protons and electrons, have antimatter counterparts with the same mass but the opposite charge. For instance, the antimatter opposite of an electron, known as a positron, is positively charged. When a particle meets its antiparticle, they destroy each other, releasing a burst of energy such as gamma rays. In 1978, gamma ray detectors flown on balloons detected a type of gamma ray emerging from space that is known to be emitted when electrons collide with positrons — meaning there was antimatter in space. "It was quite a surprise back then to discover part of the universe was made of antimatter," researcher Gerry Skinner, an astrophysicist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

, told SPACE.com. These gamma rays apparently came from a cloud of antimatter roughly 10,000 light-years across surrounding our galaxy's core. This giant cloud shines brightly with gamma rays, with about the energy of 10,000 suns. What exactly generated the antimatter was a mystery for the following decades.

View: Full Article | Source: Yahoo! News

Sounds like they're getting people geared up for planet X.

How can this antimatter exist if it annhilates on contact with matter? Surely, it must always be in contact with matter as that is what scientists say that the majority of the universe is made of.
Or is the cloud of antimatter a cloud of explosions, or suspended in dark matter to avoid annhilation?
Not trying to be difficult, just curious.

I think there's a place in space that void of matter, where only Antimatter existed.

A place void would be? Space itself? The vacuum? Not getting at you legion but according to science(as i understand it) at some point, the antimatter would come into contact with matter unless it were suspended in some kind of bubble analogue.

Well it also states that this cloud is surrounding our galaxy's core. The core of our and other galaxies seem to be very busy places, densley filled with matter and stars. But the part of this article that really bugged me was the last line which stated... What exactly generated the antimatter WAS a mystery for the following decades. Did they mean IS? Because the article doesn't make mention of where this cloud came from, just what antimatter was compared to matter. And how did they know it has to be in a cloud form and not just loose particles running amok like regular matter. I love science, and even though I am just an average person, I love learning about the unknown.

I think a cloud of explosions isn't that far-fetched. There's a lot of matter out there. But who knows? Let's send a ship there .

TeraLink Was Here!

Correct. The post states that in 1978 gamma ray detectors did indeed pickup the release of such energy from antimatter coming in contact with matter...and that's how they know it exists in space.

This is a monumental step in science in further understanding the universe. If we can discover exactly how it is created it could honestly be a major source of energy for us if we can make it and use it correctly. However, if we were ever able to do that it would be a very scary time because I don't think I have to go into the possibilities of the destruction some would use it for. Either way I believe the antimatter is and was a huge missing link in understanding how things are created in our universe. I also believe it is a missing ingredient in the big bang theory. I'm extremely excited over this.

I'am privy to the most advanced and updated knowledge in physics and astromony and i haven't seen anything to conclude that there is clouds of anti-matter {as i define {clouds}} in space.

IN NOTE: all the words used in the article are far from any conclusion that there is a cloud of anti-matter in space....these observations are from already known processes.

Bloody hell! I'm beginning to think i've understood a science thread. See skeptics, miracles do happen:-p

Because that's what space is, nothingness. Anti-matter is floating around the complete absence of everything(what we call space) just like we are(we're matter).

Winter solstice 2012. Well, lets see what dark matter "does".

its quit easy to understand that anti matter is opposed to matter thus creating a form of energy, this is most probably why you find densely populated young stars near the core where the anti matter clouds*not sure about clouds but rather dense areas* exist in more compact environments, the effect of this process would ultimately lead to the creation of stars, the sustenance residue or Bi product of this process would act as a recycling effect form more anti matter and matter....i believe this find has great possibilities and helps piece the puzzle together for star, planetary and galactic formation it will probably be more analyzed and depthly looked into, in this years research onto it and form many new grounded theories...
i also feel that this also will help to the better understanding of galactic,star and planetary fetal stage formation!
Click to view attachment

If anyone has read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, there's a storyline of antimatter in that book. Apart from that, i haven't really heard nor have been interested in it. However, you say that this antimatter destroys matter and matter destroys antimatter. Is the earth not matter? In theory, if it came into contact with the earth (i hope i'm not making a fool of myself, i'm not too good on the subject. It fascinates me however) the earth and the cloud of antimatter would destroy each other? So if you think about it, is that how the big bang happened, andif so, perhaps that would be again the end of the universe?

Just a thought.

Best wishes, AoM xx

I get what you mean, it's kind of like fire and ice. Fire melts ice, but the water will extinquish the fire. It all comes down to which element more dominant in terms of mass.