Image credit: phys.org
When does absence of evidence become evidence of absence? Dark matter has never been detected despite years of effort. Here we have ‘a universal phenomenon that demands new explanations’, says the lead researcher. Galaxies in disc-shaped planes appear to mirror what we see with solar systems – like ours – and their planets.
An international team of astronomers led by the University of Basel in Switzerland has looked at the movement and distribution of satellite galaxies in the constellation Centaurus A and finds that their observations call into question the existence of dark matter, says The Space Reporter.
The findings are reported in the journal Science.
Dark matter is a hypothetical type of invisible matter that has never been directly observed because it does not emit or interact with electromagnetic radiation. Its existence has been inferred by its apparent influences on visible matter and light.
According to the standard model of cosmology, which assumes the existence of dark matter, these satellite galaxies ought to be distributed randomly and should orbit their host galaxies in a disordered way.
A few years ago, however, astronomers observing the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies found “satellite galaxies are arranged in disc-shaped planes around the host galaxy and co-rotate within such planes,” according to a university statement.
At first, astronomers considered these organized structures to be isolated cases. But now, new observations by a team led by Oliver Müller at the University of Basel’s Department of Physics suggest they are much more common than previously believed.
“Coherent movement seems to be a universal phenomenon that demands new explanations,” says Müller, in the statement.
Continued here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
February 6, 2018 at 03:57AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 