It provides the "glue" that keeps galaxies from flying apart.
Massive objects warp the space around them, bending light like a lens. By observing how light from distant galaxies is distorted, astronomers can map the "invisible" mass causing the effect, which consistently points to vast reservoirs of dark matter. 🧪 What Could It Be? Dark Matter
Scientists discovered dark matter not by seeing it, but by noticing that the universe's "math" didn't add up without it. Galaxy Rotation Curves It provides the "glue" that keeps galaxies from flying apart
The exact identity of dark matter remains unknown, though several leading theories exist: The quest for dark matter with Matt Bothwell 🧪 What Could It Be
In the 1970s, astronomer Vera Rubin observed that stars at the edges of spiral galaxies were moving just as fast as those near the center. According to Newtonian physics, they should have been moving much slower or flying off into space unless some unseen mass was holding them in place. Galaxy Clusters