NASA finds proof of Dark matter

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NASA finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter

NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter

Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter.

"This is the most energetic cosmic event, besides the Big Bang, which we know about," said team member Maxim Markevitch of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

These observations provide the strongest evidence yet that most of the matter in the universe is dark. Despite considerable evidence for dark matter, some scientists have proposed alternative theories for gravity where it is stronger on intergalactic scales than predicted by Newton and Einstein, removing the need for dark matter. However, such theories cannot explain the observed effects of this collision.

"A universe that's dominated by dark stuff seems preposterous, so we wanted to test whether there were any basic flaws in our thinking," said Doug Clowe of the University of Arizona at Tucson, and leader of the study. "These results are direct proof that dark matter exists."

In galaxy clusters, the normal matter, like the atoms that make up the stars, planets, and everything on Earth, is primarily in the form of hot gas and stars. The mass of the hot gas between the galaxies is far greater than the mass of the stars in all of the galaxies. This normal matter is bound in the cluster by the gravity of an even greater mass of dark matter. Without dark matter, which is invisible and can only be detected through its gravity, the fast-moving galaxies and the hot gas would quickly fly apart.

The team was granted more than 100 hours on the Chandra telescope to observe the galaxy cluster 1E0657-56. The cluster is also known as the bullet cluster, because it contains a spectacular bullet-shaped cloud of hundred-million-degree gas. The X-ray image shows the bullet shape is due to a wind produced by the high-speed collision of a smaller cluster with a larger one.

In addition to the Chandra observation, the Hubble Space Telescope, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Magellan optical telescopes were used to determine the location of the mass in the clusters. This was done by measuring the effect of gravitational lensing, where gravity from the clusters distorts light from background galaxies as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity.

The hot gas in this collision was slowed by a drag force, similar to air resistance. In contrast, the dark matter was not slowed by the impact, because it does not interact directly with itself or the gas except through gravity. This produced the separation of the dark and normal matter seen in the data. If hot gas was the most massive component in the clusters, as proposed by alternative gravity theories, such a separation would not have been seen. Instead, dark matter is required.

"This is the type of result that future theories will have to take into account," said Sean Carroll, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago, who was not involved with the study. "As we move forward to understand the true nature of dark matter, this new result will be impossible to ignore."

This result also gives scientists more confidence that the Newtonian gravity familiar on Earth and in the solar system also works on the huge scales of galaxy clusters.

"We've closed this loophole about gravity, and we've come closer than ever to seeing this invisible matter," Clowe said.

These results are being published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass. For additional information and images, visit:
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wonder what this means for space exploration.
 
Dark Matter? Anti-Matter? Matter?

Whats next?
 
This is a great find, I can only gander a thought at what space has next in store for us. Space is one of my loves...though I'm too stupid to be in space jobs at all.
 
hot damn!

I was one of those people who thought our basic understanding of gravity was wrong and that dark matter did not exist, but here it is right in front of our eyes!

...and I have changed my opinion.

go science! :thumbs:
 
It's Dark Matter.



HOORAY Dark Matter \o/
 
*Waits for clarky*

Wait for it....wait for it...
 
Wow...I read the title as "NASCAR finds proof of dark matter"

Man...I was wondering how dark matter and racing were related.
 
I'm going to be a TIE pilot when I grow up.
 
read it before you posted it :)
its interesting stuff, read up on dark energy as well.
Hell keep reading about space stuff untill you get tired, thats what I did.
 
GJ government, yet another thing that means absolutely nothing anywhere in the scope of my life and in no way has an affect on me, in the least.
 
It could certainly matter if something about dark matter 'magically' comes and destroys the planet :)
 
Dark matter = Antimatter ?

EDIT: No, it's not. So, there's matter, dark matter, antimatter, and perhaps dark antimatter?
 
D: indeed, but remember they coined the words dark matter because it's the matter they can't find that would 'if normally visible' make the universe behave how we observe it to be behaving.

But really for visualisations sake it's just a derivative of 'dark energy' except it displays effects of having a mass, even though there is no physical mass to observe in the normal sense.

i.e Invisble forces are having gravitational effects D:

edit: and to help any other confusion as to what I sometimes go on about :p. Dark energy is also know as, vacuum energy, (the derivative observable state of that is zero point energy), potential energy, virtual vacuum state, scalar energy. They all mean the same thing.
 
clarky003 said:
edit: and to help any other confusion as to what I sometimes go on about :p. Dark energy is also know as, vacuum energy, (the derivative observable state of that is zero point energy), potential energy, virtual vacuum state, scalar energy. They all mean the same thing.
Click to expand...

I realized this while I was reading the definition for dark energy. If they manged to prove that dark matter exist maybe dark energy exists too since it's similar to dark matter in the first place. If dark energy, vacuum energy or whatever you want to call it does indeed exist then it's free energy for all:p .

Edit: One funny thing I've noticed is that in most sci-fi movies and games they don't seem to know the difference between dark matter and antimatter.
 
6Three said:
Am I the only one who finds this pure genius?
Click to expand...

Nope, me too because I thought of that joke too before I read his post :E


Anyway, I've been watching documentaries on this sort of stuff lately (I just finished "What we still don't know about the cosmos" 30 minutes ago) and I find this great news. We're still making progress instead of being in a dormant phase in science that I thought we were in.

\o/


î dark matter made me a cheerleader!
 
Well ym ultimate theory is correct, the universe is not as friendly as its portrayed to be, and if that does make any sense to this topic, then please, ignore me =D
 
Dan Brown's 'Angels & Demons' springs more to life, that book was fantastic i must say. Proof is one thing i'm excited about, utilising it will be the next. :)
 
If we can see things like quarks... how come we can't see darkmatter?
 
I don't think we can actually see them, but we know they're there.
 
Can Dark Matter pull my post count up to 1000 again.
 
Quarks are pretty small, so I would be surprised if we could actually 'see' them. Y'know, with light and stuff.

Anyway, this is pretty cool. Perhaps I shall have myself infused with Dark Matter to become...Dark Sulkdodds.
 
Sulkdodds said:
Quarks are pretty small, so I would be surprised if we could actually 'see' them. Y'know, with light and stuff.

Anyway, this is pretty cool. Perhaps I shall have myself infused with Dark Matter to become...Dark Sulkdodds.
Click to expand...

Then we wouldn't be able to see you.

How can we expedite this process?
 
Cole said:
Dark Matter? Anti-Matter? Matter?

Whats next?
Click to expand...

Dark-matter fision,dark-matter fusion(Dark-Matter Fusion reactor) and all of the chemical elements will become dark-like Dark-natrium,dark-helium....:LOL:
 
clarky003 said:
D: indeed, but remember they coined the words dark matter because it's the matter they can't find that would 'if normally visible' make the universe behave how we observe it to be behaving.

But really for visualisations sake it's just a derivative of 'dark energy' except it displays effects of having a mass, even though there is no physical mass to observe in the normal sense.

i.e Invisble forces are having gravitational effects D:

edit: and to help any other confusion as to what I sometimes go on about :p. Dark energy is also know as, vacuum energy, (the derivative observable state of that is zero point energy), potential energy, virtual vacuum state, scalar energy. They all mean the same thing.
Click to expand...

Man, I hate to be the one who jumps on you for posting incorrect information, but that is some totally incorrect information. Dark energy and dark matter are two completely different things. Dark energy, simply put, is the opposite of gravity. Dark matter is invisible particles that block light and blah blah - i gotta go to work, can't explain much more at the moment.
 
Dark matter is invisible particles that block light
Click to expand...

Uh no, blocking/absorbing light would by definition make it visible :p

It doesn't interact with light or other radiation at all.
 
Glo-Boy I've used the same definition that the standard cosmological model uses. Dark Matter is not observable yet exibits a gravitational force, and yes the effect is opposite to dark energy (expansion). However they are named through their physical effects, both are still essentially derived from the same source, quantum vacuum.

My point was simply that the physical effects maybe different but they diverge from this same energy source, so understanding their connection should lead to a better understanding, if you get technical both effects are basically suspected to be a result of the predicted cosmological constant that isn't actually constant atall, fluctuating and changing.
 
Yeah, last I read the cosmological constant has been slowly increasing.

-Angry Lawyer
 
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