Dark matter is the mysterious substance in the Universe. She is so mysterious that no one still really knows whether it exists in reality. It is a unique substance from which, probably, is 80% of our Universe, does not interact with the outside world: it can neither see nor touch. Despite this sad fact, in honor of this really have an substance established even its own holiday — Day of the dark matter, scientists are celebrating on October 31. Well, the holiday in honor of the dark matter is not the only oddity of such a mysterious substance.
Dark matter is the most obscure and unknown substance in the Universe
What is dark matter?
In the 1930-ies, a Swiss astronomer named Fritz Zwicky noticed that galaxies in the distant cluster are orbiting each other much faster than they should. He suggested that the invisible substance, which he called dark matter, maybe the gravitational pull of these galaxies and somehow glues them not allowing them to disperse in different directions of the Universe.
It has been almost 90 years, but researchers were never able to get close to unraveling the nature of dark matter. The only thing we know for sure is that this mysterious material can be found throughout the cosmos and that it is much more common in the Universe than visible matter. Well, perhaps the inability to understand the composition of the mysterious substance can be considered the first oddity unique substance.
Is it possible to detect dark matter?
Detection of dark matter is one of the main aspirations of any astronomer
If dark matter cannot interact with ordinary matter, can we somehow detect it? Perhaps this question was raised by scientists who conducted experiments in the hope of find the most cherished a particle of dark matter. Despite the long years searching for traces of dark matter on Earth was never found.
You will be wondering: what if dark matter is not particles?
From school physics course you probably know that ordinary matter is composed of particles like protons and electrons and a whole zoo of more exotic particles such as neutrinos, muons and pions. Trying to find dark matter, the researchers wondered whether this mysterious substance to be as complex as the ordinary matter.
According to researchers from Harvard University Andrey Katz, there is no reason to assume that all dark matter in the Universe is built of one type of particles. Thus, the dark protons could unite with electrons dark, forming dark atoms, creating the configuration as varied and interesting as those that are in the visible world.
Along with the additional dark matter particles there is a possibility that she’s experiencing forces similar to those experienced by ordinary matter. Some researchers have searched for “dark photons”, which would be similar to the photons that appear between normal particles. If once they are found, then this discovery will mark a new stage in the study of the properties of the Universe.
Is there dark matter in our galaxy?
A huge amount of dark matter is concentrated right in the center of our galaxy
Because dark matter in the Universe is much more than normal, often talking about the fact that she is a kind of driving force that organizes such large structures like galaxies and galactic clusters. That is why the discovery of a galaxy called NGC 1052-DF2 came as a surprise, as this structure completely contains dark matter. As for the milky Way galaxy, the cluster dark matter scientists found right in the center of our galaxy. What caused such a strange and inhomogeneous distribution of a mysterious substance in the Universe, is still unknown. However, if someday this secret will be revealed, humanity may witness the development of a new science.
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