After many years of observation, scientists have detected a matter not visible in the universe, dark matter.
Facing the immensity of the universe, we can observe infinite celestial bodies, they are galaxies and more galaxies and each one consists of billions of stars. There is a lot of matter in the universe, although it is becoming increasingly clear that this matter is not distributed so evenly. And this is even in line with the Big Bang theory, which assumes an inflation of the universe in t ~ 10 -34 seconds.
Before the Big Bang there was nothing, not even time, it was the beginning of space-time. From then on, matter began to be formed, protons and neutrons formed from quarks. Estimates say that this event occurred about fifteen billion years ago. Currently, scientists from various parts of the world, including the American space agency (NASA), are still trying to find out how this matter is distributed in the universe. The first investigations made them believe that the matter would be evenly distributed, but, as mentioned above, data obtained later, more precisely in 1992 by NASA’s Cosmic Backgroud Explorer (COBE) satellite, reveal that the matter is not distributed. evenly, on the contrary, in the universe there are regions with a high concentration of galaxies while others are practically empty. In addition, studies by Dr. Vera Rubin and her collaborator Kent Ford also show that in the universe there is some type of matter that cannot be observed, that matter apparently does not interact with radiation, that is, it does not emit, reflect or absorb radiation , so it is not yet possible to observe it.
Then you must be wondering how we know it exists then! Well, this suspicion started after years of observation by Dr. Vera Rubin and her collaborator Kent Ford, in the laboratory of the National Observatory at Kitt Peak, in the State of Arizona, United States. They took measurements of the rotation of remote galaxies and were surprised to analyze the data, as they showed that the stars located in regions more distant from the center of the galaxy had the same speed as the most central stars. This fact was at odds with what was expected, as it was believed that the stars closer to the center would be at higher speeds. The result also ran counter to classical mechanics, unless there was some kind of matter that could not be seen. Then the search for more evidence of the existence of this “invisible” matter began.
Don’t stop now … There’s more after the publicity;)
This “invisible” matter was called by dark scientists by scientists. It is estimated that approximately ninety percent of the entire universe is composed of this dark matter. Normal matter, which can be observed, is called baryonic matter, because it is formed by baryons, which are the particles of the atom’s nucleus, protons and neutrons. More recent studies show that dark matter contains a small part of baryonic matter. From what would this mysterious matter, almost undetectable, be formed?
Apparently, it is formed in part by neutrinos, although the mass of the neutrino is very small, it is believed that the amount of neutrinos in a galaxy is large enough to explain part of the dark matter. As I said, the presence of the neutrino in dark matter does not fully explain its occurrence, because even this gigantic amount of neutrinos present in galaxies is not enough to justify the entire mass of the universe. The search for answers continues, but so far the composition of this mysterious matter has not yet been fully determined.
