Cygnus Loop Nebula. Image courtesy of Skeeze (Pixbay).

Although dark matter makes up 80% of all matter in the universe, physicists are still struggling to understand exactly what it is. This perplexity is largely due to the fact that dark matter is invisible and difficult to study directly, but a dwarf galaxy named Reticulum 2 may have just changed the game. Many experts believe that when dark matter particles collide, high-energy light is emitted in the form of gamma rays – and 45 individual gamma rays are exactly what one group of scientists detected coming from Reticulum 2 using NASA’s Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. For many, these rays serve as the first convincing signal of dark matter, especially since dwarf galaxies lack other gamma ray-producing sources such as black holes. Cautious optimism is advised, however, as a second team found no evidence of these gamma rays after independently analyzing the same data. Clearly controversial, these gamma rays will need to be corroborated by several more sources and further discussed in the context of current theoretical models before the dark matter mystery is truly solved.

Cygnus Loop Nebula.  Image courtesy of Skeeze (Pixbay).
Cygnus Loop Nebula. Image courtesy of Skeeze (Pixabay).

Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Carl Schmidt, a PhD in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia, for his expertise and commentary on the topic.

Managing Correspondent: Laura L. Smith

Original Article:

Gamma Rays May Be Clue on Dark Matter (NY Times)

Additional Info:

How Dark Matter Works (How Stuff Works)

Dark Matter – Where Is It All? (Ars Technica)

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