Astronomers have discovered a difficult-to-see object that may be evidence of the existence of dark matter

Astronomers have discovered an extremely faint, low-mass object in the distant universe, raising suspicions that it could be composed of dark matter, the elusive matter that makes up nearly 30% of the universe.

The team claims that this may be the lowest-mass dark object ever found in the universe, but they have not yet been able to determine the nature of this mysterious discovery. The object is too faint to be seen, and was found using gravitational lensing, which works by measuring the effect of an object’s gravity on light passing around it.

“Finding low-mass objects like this is critical for learning about the nature of dark matter,” said study co-author Chris Fassnacht, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UC Davis. statement.

The discovery is detailed in A He studies The discovery, published Thursday in the journal Nature Astronomy, could help scientists unravel some of the many mysteries surrounding dark matter.

Cosmic mystery

In this study, scientists combined the powers of several observatories to create the equivalent of an Earth-sized telescope, sensitive enough to be able to detect such a small object. Gravitational lensing is the magnifying glass of the universe, and the newly discovered object is so small that it appears to cause a tiny distortion in the gravitational lensing of a distant galaxy.

“It is an impressive achievement to discover such a low-mass object at such a great distance from us,” Fassnacht said.

The true nature of this object is still unknown, but researchers believe it could be a sign of dark matter, or perhaps a very small, compact dwarf galaxy. Dark matter is the glue that holds the universe together, and makes up about 27% of all matter in the universe, according to NASA. But despite its abundance, it is invisible to our eyes (hence the name), and its presence is inferred from the effect it has on surrounding ordinary matter.

Shedding light on dark matter

Dark matter makes up most of the mass in galaxies and galaxy clusters, and although it does not interact with light, its gravity can bend light from distant galaxies to form gravitational lensing. If this object He is Composed of dark matter, it is 100 times smaller than any other clump of dark matter ever discovered.

The researchers point out that the new discovery is consistent with a certain hypothesis known as the cold dark matter theory, which indicates that dark matter consists of weakly interacting, slow-moving particles that are held together by gravity.

“Given the sensitivity of our data, we expected to find at least one dark object,” Devon Powell of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Germany, lead author of the study, said in a statement. “Having found one, the question now is whether we can find more and whether the numbers will still agree with the models.”