Dark Matter Mystery Deepens

Dark Matter: Now More Mysterious Than Ever
By Adam Mann October 17, 2011 | 2:47 pm | Categories: Space


Astronomers have one more reason to scratch their heads over the unseen material known as dark matter. Observations of two dwarf galaxies, Fornax and Sculptor, show the dark matter within them is spread out smoothly rather than heaped into a central bulge, contradicting cosmological models.

Researchers know dark matter comprises a far greater percentage of the universe than the ordinary matter making up things like people and stars. Because of this, the distribution of dark matter determines the structure of the cosmos. Galaxies form when they are attracted to and anchored by large clumps of dark matter.

The dwarf galaxies Fornax and Sculptor are themselves made of 99 percent dark matter and only 1 percent normal matter. It is impossible to directly see the dark matter but, by observing the rotation of stars around each galactic center, researchers can detect its influence and map out its distribution.

From the second article:

While dark matter neither emits or scatters light, its existence can derived only from the gravitational effects on visible matter.

"After completing this study, we know less about dark matter than we did before," the study's lead author Matt Walker, a Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said.

"Stars in a dwarf galaxy swarm like bees in a beehive instead of moving in nice, circular orbits like a spiral galaxy," said Peñarrubia.

"That makes it much more challenging to determine the distribution of dark matter." The new measurements suggest two options: normal matter impacts dark matter more severely than previously thought, or dark matter is not "cold," or slow-moving, as widely accepted today.

Source

Source


From a layman's standpoint, the dark matter theory has some major issues. I would not be arrogant enough to say that I understood it completely (or at all), but time and time again we see some major questions arise about the idea from the Scientists that study it.

I can't wait until the mystery is solved however, because I want to know if dark stuff is used to make the cookie part of an oreo black... Or is it food coloring?

Oh.. Boncho is really a scientist.
Good post!

Originally posted by greenCo
Oh.. Boncho is really a scientist.

Good post!

The first thing I would do as a Scientist is popularize bias and unfounded ideas.

Source

This is my physics explanation anytime something like this happens. Basically we have no clue as to what is going on out there. We have educated guesses, and pretty good ideas on what the rules are. The universe just seems to have no problems breaking those rules when we're not looking.

reply to post by diddlydo


From my understanding the double slit experiment is easily explained. The observation is what causes the effect. Correct me if I'm wrong...

With Dark Matter however, it seems like there could be a fundamental flaw somewhere in the theory of everything. But alas, this thought is probably just because I haven't looked into it enough, or it hasn't been explained properly to me.

A couple of interesting articles.
Like you say, it's not easy to get ones head around but it'd be nice if someone did.

Coincidently results from the Fermi gamma ray telescope have come in with over 600 unexplainable gamma ray burst which among other things scientist theorize could be caused by dark matter collisions.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm not entirely sold on "dark matter."

It just doesn't ... fit.

Of course, I feel the same about "dark energy" - both seem to be constructs of our inability to explain the observed phenomena with our current models. We've created them to make it "work."

A uniform distribution of Dark Matter would, in my opinion, not indicate the presence of Dark Matter - but a fundamental mechanic that we are missing. It seems more plausible that the source of the phenomena is from the affected matter or the space it inhabits, rather than some other material that mysteriously distributes itself evenly and is only observable indirectly from how it supposedly influences orbital patterns.

... Unless I'm missing something.

But that sounds more like "Anti-Dark-Energy" ...

I give up and subscribe to the holographic principle. It's all a computer simulation - or indistinguishable from one, in either case.

Everything is explained by our being inside a singularity. Quantum mechanics works, relativity works because gravity is balanced between two points. The Event Horizon and the Singularity. Nothing actually ever falls into the singularity from the outside looking in, and everything condenses to the singularity at the same time. Time is split and experienced differently by the viewer and the subject. Take the median answer and you get our universe.

Edit: This explains red shift, because everything is really moving away from us, because everything is moving away from itself.

Dark matter is nonsense. It is magic fairy dust made up to make their equations work out. Instead of thinking maybe their theory is wrong, they say, "I know, 99 percent of the universe is invisible. Yeah, that's the ticket."