Dark matter and dark energy are some of the most mysterious forces in our universe. They encompass around 95 percent of our universe, however, the human race is blinds to the truth of their existence. What we truly know about the mystery that is a majority of our universe is near insignificant compared to the possibilities that exist. We know that they exist and that they do something. Their discovery wasn’t even a sign of humanities dawning intellect, it was a mere accident.
The scientific community had no inkling that the universe was made up of more than what we can see until the 1930’s. A Swiss astronomer—Fritz Zwicky—was measuring the speed of the orbits of galaxies in the Coma Cluster (Ferris). His calculations indicated that the
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As the search for the true identity of dark matter goes nowhere, scientists call the dark matter WIMPs—weakly interacting massive particles (Ferris). The scientist don’t know exactly what they are looking for, so they named it after one of the confounding properties possessed by this hidden substance. Scientists have a slightly greater idea of the properties of dark matter than they do its identity. The name WIMPS—weakly interacting particles—comes from then fact that dark matter barely interacts with “normal” matter or itself (Ferris). Evidence of this is found in the Bullet cluster, where two clusters are colliding (Ferris). Astronomers found clumps of has gas at the center—ascribed to the collision of normal matter (Ferris). However, they also found a large concentration of mass for each cluster far from the center of the collision (Ferris). They believe that the more massive parts of the clusters that are made up of dark matter are continuing on (Ferris). The dark matter is seemingly unaffected by the massive collision of multiple galaxies, indicating that it is neither pulled along by the normal matter surrounding it nor attracted to its dark counterpart. Other investigations indicate that the formation of galaxies is due to the gravity of dark matter pulling materials together early in the formation of the universe (Ferris). If this is true, than the presence of dark matter is responsible for every cohesive body of mass in the universe. Our lives
Dark matter and dark energy are two entities that have very little known about them, except that they make up about 95 percent of the universe. Even though this is a large part of the universe, it wasn’t even thought about until the 1960’s or the 1970’s. This is because of the fact that it is very hard to detect and almost impossible to see. Although it is impossible to see, we can see the effects of them both in our galaxy.
The visible universe- including Earth, the sun, other stars, and galaxies is made of protons, neutrons, and electrons bundled together into atoms (National Geographic, 2012). Astronomers use the term ‘baryonic’ to refer to all objects made of normal atomic matter, essentially ignoring the presence of electrons (Swinburne University, 2015). Baryons interact with each other through gravity, nuclear forces and the electrostatic force. These interactions are what allow baryonic matter (such as stars) to emit light (Grocutt, 2012). One of the most surprising discoveries of the 20th century was this ordinary, or baryonic, matter makes up less than 5 percent of mass of the universe. The rest of the universe appears to be made of a mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter (25 percent) and a force that repels gravity known as dark energy (70 percent) (National Geographic, 2012).
The particles include photinos, neutrinos, gravitinos, axions, and magnetic monopoles, among many others. Of these, researchers have detected only neutrinos -- and whether neutrinos have any mass remains unknown. Experiments are under way to detect other exotic particles. If they exist, and if one has a mass in the correct range, then that particle might pervade the universe and constitute dark matter.
Dark Matter is revealed in many ways and one example of dark matter in action is how it holds our galaxies together. This is known because even though dark matter does not emit or absorb light or electromagnetic radiation, it does exert a gravitational force upon other galaxies, stellar clusters, and many other substances through the universe. One example of how amazing dark matter is is how it exerts a gravitational force upon stellar clusters. Stellar clusters are clusters of individual stars that move at rapid speed that are gravitationally bound. But it has been scientifically proven that the individual stars are moving too fast to be held together by the gravitational attraction of other stars. In this case dark matter provides the extra vigor that is needed.
We consider the universe to be a dynamic sense of natural forces that are most effectively understood by scientific inquiry. We are always open to the discovery of new possibilities and phenomena in nature. However we find that traditional views on the existence of God either are meaningless, have not yet been demonstrated to be true, or are tyrannically exploitative.”
To discover what the universe is made of and how it works is the challenge of particle
Astronomers believe there is enough dark matter in the universe to slow its expansion gradually toward a stop.
The most common scientific explanation of how our universe came to be, is the Big Bang Theory. Around 13. 8 billion years ago there was no sign of anything apart from darkness. Until astronomer Edwin Hubble made a remarkable discovery about how the universe was created. Edwin Hubble hypothesised the matter and energy in the universe was initially condensed in a very small and infinitely hot mass. A huge explosion, known as the Big Bang, then sent matter and energy expanding in all directions (Howell, n.d.).
The universe of the past was understood to be a simple one-galaxy model that was both unchanging and immeasurable. Theories have constantly changed and been reconstructed to better portray the progression of human understanding over time. “The cosmos began
In order to understand our place in the universe, we must understand the universe itself. Scientists, researchers, astronomers, cosmologists, physicists, amateur astronomers and a slew of other groups of individuals largely interested in the cosmos, help with discovering new and fascinating theories or proof of different phenomenon within the universe. Three scientific articles help readers to realize scientists are constantly deep in work to unravel the hidden truths. “Dark Matter in the Discovery Age”, “Why the Universe Had no Beginning”, and “What String Theory tells Us About the Universe” include theories vastly different from one another, but lead to the same conclusion; the universe’s creation.
Throughout the second chapter of Investigating Astronomy: A Conceptual View of the Universe, authors Timothy Slater and Roger
Dark matter is a very mysterious concept and scientist are not sure what it is . Dark matter is a substance that we do not know exactly what it is. Dark matter is something that is matter but is invisible to the best machines.Some of them are x-ray telescopes and dark matter is too cold for the machines to see. Can you believe that you can't see dark matter with our technology?
In conclusion this unit on astronomy and cosmology helped me understand that there is so much more to the universe than I had initially thought. There is so much more that goes on and our knowledge will only increase as technology makes our ability to learn more about the depths of our
Every since I have read your book, Dark Matter, I have looked at reality in a whole different way. Every day when I make a sort of important decision I think what will happen if I take the other option which makes me quaver with fear. During the reading of this book, the plot was dispersing me causing me to try and regain the truth of the story. After finishing the book I was ravenous to hear what will happen next once the entered their new world and I felt like I was hanging of a precipice.
Dark Matter and Dark Energy are important. They can help us know how the universe began. These two are the mysteries of the universe; they compose about 90% of the universe. They are mysteries because we believe that they exist but we can’t see them or detect them. People question whether they manifest to be the same thing. Astronomers know very little about their constitution so they cannot assume they are related.