what is dark matter

The key to its elusive nature must lie in its composition. Dark matter is a mysterious non-luminous substance making up the vast majority of matter in the universe.

What Is Dark Matter Wonderopolis

Observed cluster of galaxies the Coma cluster needed at least 400 times the mass he had calculated to hold itself together.

. Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb reflect or emit light so they cannot be detected by observing electromagnetic radiation. Though experts have observed the gravitational effects of dark matter for. What Is Dark Matter. Dark matter a component of the universe whose presence is discerned from its gravitational attraction rather than its luminosity.

Dark matter is completely invisible. Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85 of the matter in the universe. Because scientists cant see dark matter directly they have found other ways to investigate it. It emits no light or energy and thus cannot be detected by conventional sensors and detectors.

What is dark matter. This might be a surprise but we dont know what most of the universe is made of. The rest is dark energy 694 percent and ordinary visible matter 05 percent. Dark matter is a form of matter thought to account for approximately 85 of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total mass-energy density or about 224110 27 kgm 3.

Dark matter may not be made up of the matter we are familiar with at all. Dark matter makes up 301 percent of the matter -energy composition of the universe. Dark matter is stuff in space that has gravity but it is unlike anything scientists have ever seen before. By fitting a theoretical model of the composition of the universe to the combined set of cosmological observations scientists have come up with the composition that we described above 68 dark energy 27 dark matter 5 normal matter.

Or dark matter could be neutron stars or black holes the remnants of large stars after they explode. The matter that makes up dark matter could different. 1 Dark matter is called dark because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field which means it does not absorb reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation and is therefore difficult to detect. Dark matter could be white dwarfs the remnants of cores of dead small- to medium-size stars.

Together dark matter and dark energy make up 95 of the universe. In the 1970s astronomer Vera Rubin confirmed the idea by observing the velocity of stars moving. Dark matter wa s first proposed by Fritz Zwicky in 1930s to explain the discrepancy between predicted and observed rotation speeds of stars in the galaxy. Originally known as the missing mass dark matters existence was first inferred.

That only leaves a small 5 for all the matter and energy we know and understand. It may be filled with particles predicted by theory but that scientists have yet to observe. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope can detect high-energy gamma rays that may be emitted when dark matter particles collide.