Unravel the enigma of the cosmos as we delve into the mysterious concept of dark matter. A subject that has puzzled scientists for decades, dark matter continues to be a cornerstone of astrophysical research and cosmic understanding.
Who discovered dark matter?
In 1933, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky studied the motion of galaxies in the Coma Cluster, comparing the mass it contained to the speed of orbit of the individual galaxies.
- What he found was that the galaxies at the outer edges of the cluster were travelling far too quickly for the gravity to hold them in an orbit, so what could be keeping them there?
What other evidence is there for dark matter?
The Bullet Cluster is a pair of colliding galaxy clusters located around 3.8 billion light-years from Earth.
- Most of the matter in these colliding clusters is not galaxies nor hot gas, but something with mass that we can’t see.
What is dark matter made of?
Dark matter has to consist of something more exotic than standard atomic particles to ensure the Big Bang produces a universe chemically similar to the one we see today.
- The main contenders include so-called weakly interacting massive particles (‘WIMPs’), gravitinos, and axions.
