Dark Collision
Essay Preview: Dark Collision
Report this essay
For quite some time now, scientists have suspected that invisible stuff, known as dark matter, hold galaxies together as they move throughout space. But, no one has been able to see the dark matter, meaning they have yet to prove that dark matter actually exists.
Though recently, astronomers saw two clusters of galaxies that crashed into each other as they moved through the cosmos. After studying that collision carefully, the scientists now say that they have the first evidence of dark matter in the universe.
You see, the scientists use this special method, also called gravitational lensing. The gravity of a massive object, whether invisble or not, changed the direction in which light travels. If they observe and measure this light, they can actually figure out the location and even size of the object! Isnt that cool? I sure think so.
The gravity cluster 1E0657-56 is the one that the observers focused on the most. What they found was that the gravity of something invisble and massive had bent light, coming from more-distant galaxies, which were visible in the background. Actually, they detected two large, separate
clumps. One clump, is made of regular matter, mainly consisting of hot gasses. While the other clump is made out of dark matter. Normally, ordinary and dark matter would be together in the same clump.
The reason for the two clumps separating
is because, during the impact, the hot gasses of one cluster slowed down the hot gasses of the other. But, because the dark matter from one galaxy passes right through another galaxys dark mattter, the dark matter was not slowed by the impact at all. So the two clumps were detected as separate
clouds.