Researchers have picked up strange, unexpected signals from deep space that could point to the existence of dark matter. When it comes to one of the most elusive and hard-to-prove substances in the universe, dark matter ranges up at the top.
Though dark matter is ubiquitous and omnipresent, it’s nearly impossible to catch a glimpse of. Everyone in astronomical sciences is on the lookout for dark matter.
Dr Alexy Boyarasky
It’s been 70 years since the existence of dark matter was theorized, and even with the decades of progress made with scientific study and detection methods dark matter has remained impossible to pin down; however, that might have all changed after scientists from Leiden University in The Netherlands and the EFPL Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology in Switzerland detected a distinct transmission pattern.
Scientists found that the spectrum of light emerging from both the Andromeda Galaxy and a galaxy cluster present in the Perseus constellation were emitting anomalous spikes from regions where nothing should exist. With dark matter being invisible and undetectable – and with these regions of space corresponding to where the largest theoretical concentrations are understood to exist – researchers believe that they may have discovered evidence of the decay of a dark matter particle according to Dr. Oleg Ruchayskiy, from the EFPL Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology. The discovery, Dr. Ruchayskiy adds, could revolutionize astronomy, ushering in a brand new age for the science and opening up untold secrets to further study.
Leiden University’s Dr. Alexey Boyarasky also commented on the possible breakthrough, remarking that though dark matter is ubiquitous and omnipresent, it’s nearly impossible to catch a glimpse of. Everyone in astronomical sciences is on the lookout for dark matter, Dr. Boyarasky added, but this could very well be the first sign to point to its observable existence.
The discovery will need to be confirmed, the scientist said, before new, even better adapted systems are made that could ostensibly study these dark matter particle signals in greater depth. Specially designed telescopes could soon be built to carry out these observations, which could end up in revealing the secrets of dark matter to scientists interested in reconstructing how the universe was originally formed billions of years ago, according to Dr. Boyarasky.
This archive content was originally published December 11, 2014 (www.betawired.com)