Mystery of Dark Matter Uncovered by Hubble and VLT
Our understanding of dark matter just became even more warped — literally.
One mystery of dark matter is that it makes up the vast majority of all the matter in the Universe, yet we know surprisingly little about it. This mysterious “something” cannot be seen through light or any other form of electromagnetism — hence the name “dark.” However, dark matter does emit gravitational forces, without which galaxies and clusters of galaxies would fly apart.
A new study, based on observations of distant galaxy clusters seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile reveal dark matter behaves differently than simulations predict, suggesting our models of dark matter may need to be refined.
In 1933, astronomer Fritz Zwicky was observing the Coma galaxy cluster when he noticed something unusual — there was not anywhere near enough material to hold the group of galaxies together — yet, they are, somehow, gravitationally bound together. Zwicky suggested the presence of an unseen form of matter, which became known as dark matter.
In the 1970’s, Vera Rubin used the 2.1 meter telescope at Kitt Peak outside Tucson, Arizona, studying the rates at which galaxies rotate. What she found showed dark matter resides within the structures galaxies as well as between them.
