What evidence do astronomers have for the existence of dark matter What are possible sources of dark matter?

Primary evidence for dark matter comes from calculations showing that many galaxies would fly apart, or that they would not have formed or would not move as they do, if they did not contain a large amount of unseen matter.

What is the strongest piece of evidence for the existence of dark matter?

The strongest such evidence comes from observations of colliding galaxy clusters, which show that the regions where the gravitational force is strongest is also where the density of visible matter is lowest. Thus, there must be something unseen that is producing the observed gravitational pull.

How much of the universe is unknown?

We know only five per cent of the universe. The remaining 95 per cent is still a mystery – an unknown universe of new particles and forces awaits discovery. Even if these unknown particles and forces are, at present, invisible to us, they have shaped the universe as we see it today.

How do we know about the existence of dark matter?

We can detect the dark matter through gravitational lensing, which detects shifts in light produced by distant celestial objects [5]. The bright spots outside the colored areas are stars and galaxies that are not part of the Bullet Cluster (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/ M.

Is wimp an accurate description of the dark matter particles?

The leading candidate that might explain the fundamental make-up of dark matter is a hypothetical particle called the weakly interacting massive particle, or WIMP. But with GLAST, scientists may finally find clear evidence that dark matter is indeed made of WIMPs.

Why dark matter does not exist?

Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force. This means it does not absorb, reflect or emit light, making it extremely hard to spot. In fact, researchers have been able to infer the existence of dark matter only from the gravitational effect it seems to have on visible matter.

What does WIMP mean in physics?

weakly interacting massive particles
For decades, physicists have hypothesized that weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are the strongest candidate for dark matter — the mysterious substance that makes up 85\% of the Universe’s mass.

How do astronomers know that dark matter exists?

I’ve talked about how astronomers know that dark matter exists. Even though they can’t see it, they detect it through the effect its gravity has on light. Dark matter accounts for 27\% of the Universe, dark energy accounts for 68\% of the Universe.

How much dark energy is there in the universe?

NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe studied the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation of the Universe for 7 years, and put the amount of dark energy at 72.8\% of the Universe. ESA’s Planck spacecraft performed an even more careful analysis and pegged that number at 68.3\% of the Universe.

What is the invisible matter that we can’t detect?

By doing this, they discovered that there must be five times more material in the clusters than we can detect. The invisible matter that we can’t detect is called “dark matter.”. The Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky first used the term “dark matter” in the 1930s.

What happens if dark energy is constant over time?

If dark energy is constant over time, we’re likely looking at a “big freeze” in the future, at which point the universe continues to expand faster and faster, and eventually galaxies are so spread out from each other that space seems like a vast wasteland.