A new study has found no trace of the mysterious substance known as dark matter around the sun, adding a twist to current theories, researchers say.
Dark matter is one of the greatest cosmic mysteries of our time — an invisible, intangible material thought to make up five-sixths of all matter in the universe. Scientists currently think it is composed of a new type of particle, one that interacts normally with gravity but only very weakly with all the other known forces of the universe. As such, dark matter is detectable only via the gravitational pull it generates.
Astronomers first proposed the existence of dark matter to explain why stars moved the way they did in the Milky Way. It was as if extra matter was present, exerting a gravitational pull that influenced the motions of the stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment