Exploring the Mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
Stars, planets and galaxies are the things that human observes whenever he looks at the sky at night. What you don’t know is that the things that are observable to the human eye account for 15% of the universe’s content. Most of the matter in the universe is invisible; it cannot be seen or touched: dark matter and dark energy make the majority of the universe’s contents. These mysterious substances are thus central, not only to comprehending existence but especially the universe. Finding out what dark matter and dark energy are and why these terms are important.
What Is Dark Matter?
Dark matter is a material that does not give off, capture, or reflect light at any wavelength, which makes it appear as if it does not exist to us. Nonetheless, scientists are aware of dark energy because it is capable of producing respectable gravitational influence on visible object such as stars and galaxies.
This is like a seesaw where one side has a weight that one cannot visibly see. Well, you do not see the weight, but you are aware its presence; the seesaw being tilted are just examples. Likewise, dark matter can only be deduced from how it influences formations of galaxies and stars to move. If the dark matter did not exist, galaxies would disperse because astronomical objects could not attract each other by using the visible matter alone.
Why Do We Believe There Is Such a Thing As Dark Matter?
Galaxy Rotation Curves:
Most stars in galaxies turn at a speed that is unaccounted for by mass evident in galaxy disks. Dark matter will add the correct amount of gravity to allow such high speeds.
Gravitational Lensing:
When the light waves from a far-off galaxy move near a large body, for instance, a galaxy, then it is bent. The measure of bending shows that there is more mass than what we are able to physically see; this they say prove existence of dark matter.
Cosmic Microwave Background:
This is glow after the Big Bang. These patterns give an indication that the universe is full of dark matter within this radiation.
What Is Dark Energy?
Dark matter by contrary assembles galaxies while dark energy is believed to cause the universe to expand. It is an unknown force that leads to an observation that universe is actually expanding at an increasing rate.
How do we know that dark energy exists?
Supernova Observations:
Observing explosions at extremely large distances scientists realize that the universe expansion rate is actually increasing at present. The rate of this expansion is much higher than that has been predicted, thus a force similar to dark energy seems to be at work.
Cosmic Microwave Background:
In the same manner that radiation assists in defining dark matter, the same radiation is useful when it comes to defining dark energy. Concerning the patterns of this radiation, dark energy is composed of 68% of the entire universe.
Large-Scale Structure:
Studies on the distribution of galaxies and large- scale structure of the universe display features which can be explained only if dark energy is making the expansion rate to increase.
The Big Mysteries
Although they are aware of these effects, even until today they still cannot surely tell what the dark matter and the dark energy are. They are perhaps among the biggest enigmas of the contemporary science. These phenomena cannot be observed using an ordinary camera; scientists utilize large telescopes, specific detectors, and computers to investigate them, and still, they look for their physical essence.
Why Does It Matter?
Knowledge of dark matter and dark energy is important because these two components are estimated to be about 95% of the space. The solutions of these mysteries may make revolutions in the sphere of physics and provide the key to the understanding of the nature of the world.
Conclusion
One has to understand dark matter and dark energy as abstract forces forming the universe. Although we cannot see them, the results that these factors have on us are very noticeable and affect us significantly. In this way, as experts search for solutions to these enigmas, people are gradually getting closer to discerning the essence of the universe. The exploration and revelation of the universe is always progressive and every discovery in this field takes humanity one step closer to solving some of the grandest mysteries of the universe.