Dark matter is something that although exists, not even a single particle has been found so far. But even if we aren’t certain of its existence, the scale of the search for dark matter is truly astounding.
Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center via flickr.com, CC BY 2.0
Why do we want to find it so badly? In fact, there’s quite a bit of observational evidence that this form of matter is out there. It shows its presence through differences in the rotation curves of the galaxy, changes in gravitational lensing or different power spectra of the cosmic microwave background, and through a number of other sources.
The proof is pretty clear: according to theoretical predictions, this hypothetical form of matter is abundant and makes up about 85% of all matter that exists in our universe. The only problem is that it’s “dark” – it doesn’t appear to interact with electromagnetic radiation, including light, making it difficult to detect by direct means. That’s why the scale of the search for dark matter is becoming increasingly prominent – check out the video below for the exciting story of our ongoing efforts to search for dark matter:
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