For quite some time now, dark matter has been a mystery in the space world and is thought by researchers to be the main component that makes up most of the universe and scientists have ever since searched far and wide for it.
Live Science reports that a group of astrophysicists is searching beyond our own galaxy where they expect to find this dark matter. The journal Nature stated that behind the Large Magellanic Cloud, is a tiny galaxy that comprises just a bunch of stars adjacent to the Milky Way, and seems to be stuck on a cosmic slipstream. But researchers think that these stars might be stuck inside this mysterious elusive dark matter and thus are being moved in space.
Nicolas Garavito-Camargo, co-author of the study and hailing from the University of Arizona, mentioned in a press release, “We think this tiny galaxy is inside this dark matter and is causing it to move in space and will be our clue to detect it.”
Previously scientists believed that this dark matter is the main component for holding the galaxies together but their latest research suggests that stars might be stuck inside this dark invisible matter. Live Science published that by focusing on the movement of the stars in space, they might gain more information about the dark matter itself.
Harvard University author and astronomer Charlie Conroy, explained, “As an example, the wake at the back of a boat will act differently depending on whether the boat is moving through water or through honey, in relevance the wake determines what dark theory we use.”
If the researchers are correct, their work could be a huge stepping stone for the astrophysics community, which has struggled to explain the study of dark matter. If some conclusions of previous studies on dark matter collide with the information gathered from this slipstream, then various scientists would be able to update and fine-tune their existing work and remove the theories that don’t get proved.
