84
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 months ago

We know something is out there; galaxies are rotating far too quickly for our understanding of gravity to be correct. This is based on the observable matter.

For the galaxies to be rotating at the speeds we observe, we need approx 5 times the matter we see. So it is not like we have missed 10 - 20% of the matter that interacts with electromagnetic radiation, we would have had to have missed an extra 500%

As someone else pointed out, MOND is the next most promising candidate, but it has major issues even explaining what we see. Which is why it hasn't received widespread acceptance.

I don't have an answer; I have a few ideas. It maybe that something MOND adjacent is the answer; i.e. on the largest scales spacetime "relaxes" more when there is nothing pulling on it. So near galaxies and clusters spacetime is under more stress, this stress could equate to spacetime curving more on galaxy sized scales. But on the small scales we work on the extra stress will be almost invisible.

But as for us figuring out what "dark" matter is in your lifetime, unless you are already in your 80's; I think there is a very good chance. The only thing we know for sure about dark matter, is that it interacts with gravity (spacetime). We are building some pretty epic gravitational wave detectors, bringing the detection threshold lower.

this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
84 points (97.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26916 readers
1675 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS