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- Images detail dark matter mystery
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| The light bent by a dark-matter-dominated galaxy can form what is known as an "Einstein ring" |
Astronomers
have spotted a "dwarf" galaxy some 10 billion light-years away which
may be made mostly of the mysterious material called dark matter.
The dwarf
was found using a technique called gravitational lensing. It is only the second
dark dwarf ever seen, and it is by far the most distant.
The fact
that so few dwarf galaxies are seen in our own cosmic neighbourhood has
remained a conundrum in astronomy.
The study in
Nature could explain it: they may be overwhelmingly dark matter.
Dwarf
galaxies often occur in the periphery of larger galaxies, where they are known
as satellites - the Milky Way may have many as well.
"According
to the theory of galaxy formation, you'd expect thousands of these
satellites," explained lead author of the study Simona Vegetti of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"But
if you look at the Milky Way we only find 30, so it's important to understand
how many satellites are really there, and important to look at other galaxies
other than the Milky Way," she told BBC News.
That will
help determine if our cosmic neighbourhood of galaxies - the Local Group - is
unusual, or if the theory of galaxy formation is incomplete.
Massive
question
Dark matter
is so named because it does not interact with light - it cannot be seen
directly, as the stars and dust of the cosmos can.
However, it
does have mass - making up 85% of the mass in the Universe - and the effects of
that mass can be spotted.
Gravitational
lensing is a technique in which an object that lies between Earth and a distant
light source can actually act as a "lens"; the object's mass bends
the distant galaxy's light, magnifying and distorting it.
By using
computer models of how that magnification and distortion should work, the mass
of the lensing galaxy - and where that mass is distributed - can be determined.
 |
Dark energy and dark matter mysteries
. Gravity acting across vast distances does
not seem to explain what astronomers see
. Galaxies, for example, should fly apart;
some other mass must be there holding them together
. Astrophysicists have thus postulated "dark
matter" - invisible to us but clearly acting on galactic scales
. At the greatest distances, the Universe's
expansion is accelerating
. Thus we have also "dark energy" which
acts to drive the expansion, in opposition to gravity
. The current theory holds that 73% of the
Universe is dark energy, 23% is dark matter, and just 4% the kind of matter we know well |
The
technique was recently used to develop the widest view of dark matter distribution in the Universe ever produced.
Dr Vegetti
and colleagues in the US and the Netherlands have now used the Keck telescope
in Hawaii to study the lensing caused by a distant elliptical galaxy called
JVAS B1938+666.
They found
a discrepancy in comparing with the image that their detailed computer model
suggested should come from the system.
Something
with a mass about 200,000,000 times that of our Sun is in the periphery of the
image they see.
Yet that
source of mass is not visible in the image of the galaxy itself.
"It's
very hard to tell at the moment because the telescopes are just not powerful
enough to see such dim galaxies so far away," Dr Vegetti said.
"But
[the dwarf galaxy] is most likely dominated by dark matter, or maybe there are
a few stars hiding here and there."
The team must
continue the hunt for such satellites to get to the bottom of the dark mystery.
"We
were kind of lucky that the first one we looked at also had a satellite,"
Dr Vegetti said.
"If we
find other galaxies or satellites, it will tell us whether we need to change
the properties of dark matter; if we don't find enough, then dark matter must
be different from what we think."
Related Article:
"Spiritual Logic" - Oct 15 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)
(Subjects: Benevolent Design, Channelling, Holy scriptures, Higher self, (Old) Souls, Universes, Big Bang, Galaxy/Solar system build for life, Astronomy, Life on Earth tried to start 5 times/ 5th time life started, Large Animals/No Humans, Asteroid belt, 7 Sisters / 100.000 year ago Pleiadian Brothers and Sisters seeded Humans on earth, DNA, Humans Ascensiont with Pleiadian DNA, Lemuria (Hawaii),21-12-2012, 26.000 years cycle, 1987 - Harmonic convergence (11:11), Shift of Human Consciousness, Gaia, The Humanization of God, 1991 Russia falls, 1994 started 36 years galactic window (Presession), Mid point on 21-12-2012, Lemuria (Hawaii) center of the Earth time, Love (Mother & Child), Religion, Higher self, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Benevolent Design, Channelling, Holy scriptures, Higher self, (Old) Souls, Universes, Big Bang, Galaxy/Solar system build for life, Astronomy, Life on Earth tried to start 5 times/ 5th time life started, Large Animals/No Humans, Asteroid belt, 7 Sisters / 100.000 year ago Pleiadian Brothers and Sisters seeded Humans on earth, DNA, Humans Ascensiont with Pleiadian DNA, Lemuria (Hawaii),21-12-2012, 26.000 years cycle, 1987 - Harmonic convergence (11:11), Shift of Human Consciousness, Gaia, The Humanization of God, 1991 Russia falls, 1994 started 36 years galactic window (Presession), Mid point on 21-12-2012, Lemuria (Hawaii) center of the Earth time, Love (Mother & Child), Religion, Higher self, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !
“… Let me give you another hint about the
mechanics of your Universe. We've talked about gamma-ray activity for almost a
decade. We told you to "look for intense gamma-ray activity." We told
you that when you see it, you'll know that there's creation going on - something
special happening. Now we identify this as dimensional shift. It's always
accompanied by powerful gamma rays, specifically of extreme high intensity.
This is an attribute of dimensional shift, and also tells you that something is
happening. You see this at the edge of your galaxy, and you know that something
is changing there. It's a "mini-big bang," if you want to use your
own terms. It's part of a constantly changing Universe, one that's moving in a
push/pull fashion. …”
 |
Stephen Hawking
|
(According to Gaia is Stephen Hawking an incarnation of Sir Isaac Newton, confirmed in a channeling thru Pepper Lewis in the Shirley Maclaine Radio Show 2, including explanations of BP Oil spill, Dark Matter, God/God/Local God..., ET Disclosure, 3/5/7 dimensions, Money, Currencies ... etc.)
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