Astronomers: Dark Matter Guides Universe's Structure

Information Week ^ | 04/05/2009 | Bob Evans

[BuckeyeTexan]

A 10-year study of 100,000 galaxies close to our own offers compelling proof that long-hypothesized "dark matter" does exist and is in fact a guiding force behind the structure of the universe, a team of Australian, British, and American astronomers revealed this week.

Saying that "the universe we see is really quite structured," one of the lead researchers explained that the 10-year "census" of galaxies near our own Milky Way offers powerful evidence that this invisible dark matter "seems to hold the galaxies together."

The dark matter's influence on galaxies "stops their constituent stars from flying off and it seems to be driving the large-scale galaxy clusters and super clusters" that are the largest objects in the universe, said Dr. Heath Jones of the Anglo Australian Observatory in an article on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Offering rich details about the direction, speed, shape, and evolving structure of 100,000 galaxies, the 10-year study offered great promise because of its exhaustive scope: it analyzed those dynamic properties for a much larger number of galaxies than any other study had ever attempted.

In reviewing the data from the study, Jones said, it became clear that directly observable visible objects could not possibly have exerted sufficient gravitational force to account for all of the movement and dynamics of the galaxies being studied.

And in hypothesing about what other, nonvisible forces could account for that additional gravitational effect, theories about dark matter completed that equation very nicely, he told the ABC:

"The galaxies just aren't uniform. They are scattered throughout the universe," he said. "What we find is that they tend to clump and cluster together. So you'll get galaxies clustering along nice delicate filamentary chains. You get some galaxies that will congregate in their clusters and you will get clusters of galaxies collecting in super clusters of galaxies, so the universe that we see is really quite structured…. "Astronomers know that this dark matter must exist in the universe," he said. "We can't see it with our telescopes directly, but by studying large objects like galaxies and how they move with respect to each other we can infer its existence quite accurately."

In addition to the compelling evidence the study provides for the existence of dark matter, Jones said, it also offers equally compelling proof that the universe is expanding and will continue to do so, rather than at some point collapsing back in upon itself as some astronomers have theorized.

So back in the world of IT – which for a while looked like it, too, would expand infinitely -- perhaps dark matter will turn out to be the devilish factor that has long distorted ERP projects and seems to torment most government IT efforts; maybe Jones and his team can tackle that in a future study.

And in the meantime, the new evidence that the universe is expanding forever will be of no comfort to the existentially tormented boyhood character of Alvie Singer in the classic movie, "Annie Hall."

[ModelBreaker]

That is one funny graphic. Al Gore’s secret global warming model, perhaps?

[mjp]

so is dark matter wimpy, neutrino-y, or axion-y?

[concentric circles]

Image courtesy of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory operated by CalTech with data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey by UMass and funded by you and I. The nearest objects are in blue and then follow the order of the spectrum to the most distant objects in red.

[onedoug]

...we are incredibly tiny....

So is everything, relatively speaking.

[AndyTheBear]

...it also offers equally compelling proof that the universe is expanding and will continue to do so, rather than at some point collapsing back in upon itself as some astronomers have theorized.

Ouch, I guess the haples naturalists have to go with the multi-verse thing now.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks rdl6989.

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[Moonman62]

And recently it's been observed that dark energy slows down the contraction of large galaxy clusters.

Dark Energy Observed Stifling Growth of Galaxy Clusters

[Moonman62]

Because we can see the far galaxies I suspect that this “dark matter” is in fact invisible matter with mass?

It's dark because it doesn't interact with the electromagnetic force, thus it doesn't emit or absorb light, but it does have mass.

[navyguy]

Hi SunkenCiv,

Can you please add me to the string theory list?

Thanks!

Navyguy

[SuperLuminal]

As a matter of fact, dark matter, medium-dark matter, or even light-dark matter is pretty easy to comprehend.

At least in comparison to wondering what is going to hold this country (my galaxy) together with the hundreds of trillions (maybe even light-years) worth of funny money being printed by the current administration.

Maybe dark matter (or dark anti-matter), in some parts of the universe, pushes things apart instead of holding them together?

[Centurion2000]

A 10-year study of 100,000 galaxies close to our own offers compelling proof that long-hypothesized "dark matter" does exist and is in fact a guiding force behind the structure of the universe, a team of Australian, British, and American astronomers revealed this week.

Ever wonder why scientists give Christians so much crap when a buttload of their theories demand just as much if not more FAITH?

If you cannot PROVE it and still believe it, you're taking it on faith.

[allmost]

I never liked ‘fudge factors’. Dark matter is one of them. The assumption that the gravitational force and the rate of time has remained consistent throughout the lifetime of the Universe should be scrutinized more carefully IMO. In short, question the model that doesn’t fit without mysterious, unseen additions.