Einstein Was Right: Astronomers Discover a ‘Dark Matter Bridge’ Using His Predictions

Optical telescopes enable scientists to observe very distant celestial objects by using a combination of lenses. These lenses work through refraction, which alters the path of light, allowing them to view objects that are unimaginably far away. However, astronomers have also been utilizing another type of lens for several years: gravitational lenses.

An intergalactic “bridge.” Thanks to these lenses, researchers recently discovered the remnants of an object that previously collided with the Perseus cluster. The elusive nature of dark matter has made this groundbreaking discovery possible. The details of the findings were published in Nature Astronomy.

Mystery solved. The Perseus cluster is a group of galaxies located about 240 million light-years from Earth. It forms through high-energy mergers, which are among the most intense events since the Big Bang.

Over time, Perseus has accumulated a mass equivalent to 600 trillion times that of our Sun and several hundred times the mass of our galaxy. Until now, scientists believed that the Perseus cluster had reached a stable equilibrium and that significant mergers were a thing of the past.

However, recent and more detailed observations have revealed signs of recent collisions, suggesting that Perseus wasn’t as stable as previously thought. The challenge was identifying the object that had recently collided with the cluster and understanding why it had gone undetected. The recent discovery seems to have unraveled that mystery.

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Using lenses in a different way. Physicist Albert Einstein predicted gravitational lensing. This phenomenon occurs because gravity warps space and time rather than merely “pulling” an object. As a result, the paths of light beams are deflected like those of a conventional lens.

Astronomers commonly use a gravitational lens as an additional lens in a telescope. It allows them to observe objects farther away than would otherwise be possible. Notably, researchers employed the opposite logic in the new study. They used the galaxies in the background to detect the gravitational lens formed by dark matter.

The image shows the main structures involved in the study: the Perseus cluster, the newly discovered dark matter accretion, and a “dark matter bridge” connecting the two cosmic objects.

Dark matter bridge. Researchers discovered a massive dark matter cluster weighing around 200 trillion solar masses. It’s situated around 1.4 million light-years from the Perseus cluster. Connecting the two structures is a “dark matter bridge,” which the team believes is direct evidence of a previous collision between them.

According to the team’s estimates, the collision likely occurred around 5 billion years ago. “This is the missing piece we’ve been looking for,” co-author James Jee said in a press release.

Observations from the Subaru Telescope. The discovery was made possible through observations from the Subaru Telescope. The 320-inch telescope is part of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and is located on the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii. Specifically, the team used the Suprime-Cam instrument.

Does dark matter exist? Dark matter remains one of the most intriguing enigmas in contemporary astrophysics. Generally accepted cosmological models are based on the existence of some form of matter that interacts with conventional matter and energy solely through gravity. Scientists use the term “dark matter” to describe what would otherwise appear as anomalies in astronomical observations.

Even if you assume that this “something” exists and that current models aren’t mistaken, the true nature of dark matter remains one of the great mysteries of the cosmos.

Images | Andrew George | HyeongHan et al.

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