Expanding our understanding of
the content of inter galactic space is certainly a good start when it comes
down to detecting missing mass. All such
space could well be filled with material simply interacting weakly and not
seriously agglomerating in any significant way.
We see the dynamic form of a
galaxy and assume that it is representative, when it is certainly the
exception. The existence of filaments
certainly confirms the existence of organized matter outside of the galaxies.
I personally favor low energy
neutrinos for the so called dark matter, as it fits nicely into my own
work. That puts a lot of material
outside the Galaxies.
Aussie student finds universe's 'missing mass'
Fri, 27 May, 2011
A 22-year-old Australian university student has solved a problem which
has puzzled astrophysicists for decades, discovering part of the
so-called "missing mass" of the universe during her summer
break.
Undergraduate Amelia Fraser-McKelvie made the breakthrough during a
holiday internship with a team at Monash
University 's School of Physics
Monash astrophysicist Dr Kevin Pimbblet explained that scientists had
previously detected matter that was present in the early history of the
universe but that could not now be located.
"There is missing mass, ordinary mass not dark mass ... It's
missing to the present day," Pimbblet told AFP.
"We don't know where it went. Now we do know where it went because
that's what Amelia found."
Fraser-McKelvie, an aerospace engineering and science
student, was able to confirm after a targeted X-ray search for the mystery mass
that it had moved to the "filaments of galaxies", which stretch
across enormous expanses of space.
Pimbblet's earlier work had suggested the filaments as a possible
location for the "missing" matter, thought to be low in density but
high in temperature.
Pimbblet said astrophysicists had known about the "missing"
mass for the past two decades, but the technology needed to pinpoint its
location had only become available in recent years.
He said the discovery could drive the construction of new
telescopes designed to specifically study the mass.
Pimbblet admitted the discovery was primarily academic, but he said
previous physics research had led to the development of diverse other
technologies.
"Whenever I speak to people who have influence, politicians and so
on, they sometimes ask me 'Why should I invest in physics pure research?'. And
I sometimes say to them: 'Do you use a mobile phone? Some of that technology
came about by black hole research'.
"The pure research has knock-on effects to the whole society which
are sometimes difficult to anticipate."
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