Galaxy crash proves dark matter existence
Pastor Dale Morgan
Galaxy crash proves dark matter existence*
August 22, 2006 10:00am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
A HUGE collision between two clusters of galaxies has provided the first
direct evidence of the existence of the universe's mysterious dark
matter, US researchers say.
"This is the most energetic cosmic event, besides the Big Bang, which we
know about," said Maxim Markevitch of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The impact forced apart dark and normal matter, offering the strongest
evidence yet that most of the matter in the universe is dark,
researchers said.
"We've come closer than ever to seeing this invisible matter,"
University of Arizona researcher Doug Clowe, a leader of the study, said
in a statement.
"This provides the first direct proof that dark matter must exist and
must make up the majority of the matter in the universe," Mr Clowe said.
Scientists realised decades ago that galaxies rotated much faster than
their mass should allow, giving rise to the idea that invisible dark
matter keeps them from flying apart.
The new evidence of dark matter's existence was discovered with NASA's
Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, the European
Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Magellan optical
telescopes, researchers said.