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Space Detectives
Find Proof for
Dark Matter
Colliding Galaxy Clusters
Reveal Dark Matter
by W. Maria Wang
T
he line between reality and science fiction is only interacts gravitationally with itself and normal matter.
becoming increasingly blurred in the seemingly The composition of dark matter is also unknown. However,
vast emptiness of space, where a mysterious force Bradac notes that we can study certain properties of dark
prevents galaxies from flying apart. Sound like a Twilight matter. “We know [dark matter] doesn’t scatter off each other
Zone episode? According to Einstein’s theory of gravity, most and only interacts through gravity,” says Bradac. “We also
galaxies are missing visible mass required to account for know how it forms structures, so when we run simulations
their rotation speeds. Consequently, since 1933 astronomers with dark matter particles, it has to map out the galaxies
have postulated a new form of matter—dark matter—to the same way we observe them.” These detailed maps of the
account for the gravitational potential holding these galaxies galaxies are used to measure the mass distribution of dark
together. Proof for the existence of dark matter has recently matter inside them.
Dark matter has been notoriously hard to detect; it doesn’t emit or reflect radiation such as
light or heat, and only interacts gravitationally with itself and normal matter.
been obtained by Marusa Bradac, Ph.D., of the Kavli Institute Just how much dark matter is there in the universe? The
for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford general consensus among astronomers is that 25% of the
and her collaborators around the world. universe is composed of dark matter. “Whereas dark matter is
all around us, it’s a lot more smoothly distributed. Its density
The Hunt for Invisible Matter is not large enough on Earth for us to feel its gravity,” says
Dark matter has been notoriously hard to detect; it Bradac. “The concentration of regular matter, like the earth,
doesn’t emit or reflect radiation such as light or heat, and is very high; that’s why we experience its gravity directly.”
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discovered that as theory predicted, there were
two isolated regions of dark matter passing through
the collision unaffected, and two smaller clumps of
hot gas lagging behind. Bradac explains that in the clusters,
“There are a couple thousand galaxies that are so far apart
that they don’t see each other, so the chance that two galaxies
38 stanford scientific