Dark matter is the most mysterious object in the Universe, and the strangest thing is that we cannot see it, because it does not interact with light. No one has yet seen dark matter, but scientists believe that the Universe consists of 68% dark matter, 27% dark energy and 5% normal matter, and no one has directly tested dark matter, because it Apart from gravity, there is hardly any interaction with normal baryonic matter and radiation, so dark matter is also considered non-baryonic.
Dark matter is such an object of the Universe, which is very difficult for us to understand, if the discoverers uncovered its mystery, then we can know, how much effect dark matter has on normal matter. Scientists believe that, just as the Sun and the Earth are gravitational forces, due to which the Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon revolves around the Earth, in the same way there is a gravitational force of Dark Matter, to experience it, we need to experience it. The solar system will have to go far, where the effect of the gravitational force of the Sun is less.
The arms extending out from the center of the Milky Way show billions of stars arranged in a row, but we can only see as much as our eyes can see at the surface that holds our galaxy together. Scientists believe that about 95% of our galaxy is filled with dark matter, but we cannot see and measure it, because it does not interact with light.
A new study calculates how the gravity of dark matter affects objects in our solar system, including space shuttles left by humans and distant comets. If in fact the gravitational force of dark matter affects normal matter, then dark matter can be directly observed in the future. “We’re predicting, if you get far enough out into the solar system, you have an opportunity to actually measure the dark matter force,” said Jim Green, co-author and advisor to NASA’s Office of the Chief Scientific Officer of NASA. ” That’s the first idea of how to do it, and where we’ll do it.”
The Earth’s gravitational force prevents us from flying, and the Sun’s gravitational force prevents the planets around it from moving away, our Earth also revolves around the Sun due to the gravitational force. Scientists believe that the further an object moves away from the Sun’s gravitational force, the more gravitational force it will feel, and the more distinct sources of gravity it feels comes from the rest of the galaxy, where most of the dark matter is.
The mass of the 100 billion stars in our galaxy is far less than the mass of normal dark matter in the Milky Way. To find out how dark matter might affect our solar system, lead study author Edward Belbruno calculated the “galactic force,” which combines the overall gravitational force of normal matter with dark matter from the entire galaxy. They found that in our solar system, 45% of this force is from dark matter and 55% from normal, so-called “baryonic matter”. These calculations suggest a roughly half-and-half split between the mass of dark matter and normal matter in the Solar System.
Belbruno, a mathematician and astrophysicist at Princeton University and Yeshiva University, says that I was surprised, compared to the force of ordinary matter, felt in our solar system, the force of dark matter was a relatively small contribution to the galactic force. This is understood from the fact that most of the dark matter is in the outer parts of our solar system, away from our solar system.
Researchers say that the large part of dark matter called the halo, which surrounds the Milky Way, and represents the largest concentration of dark matter in the Milky Way. It has little or no common matter in the halo, if the Solar System were located much farther from the galaxy’s center, it would feel the effect of a larger proportion of dark matter in the galactic force, as it would be closer to the dark matter halo .
According to the new study, Green and Belbruno predict that the gravity of dark matter may interact with spacecraft launched by NASA, including Voyager 1 and 2, as both of them can go outside our solar system. It will be quite interesting, to see, how much effect the gravitational force of dark matter affects.
Belbruno says that if spacecraft make longer journeys, and they leave the solar system, and pass through the dark matter part, their trajectories change, and that mission planning will be important to take into account for some future missions.
NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, which were launched in 1972 and 1973, have traveled more than 50 years, and have both entered interstellar, where dark matter is influenced by gravity. The spacecraft would be deviated by only 5 feet from the gravitational effects of dark matter. Green says they feel the effect of dark matter, but it’s so small, we can’t measure it.
Composed of normal matter at a certain distance from the Sun, the galactic force becomes more powerful due to the Sun’s pull. Belbruno and Green have calculated that this transition occurs at about 30,000 astronomical units, they say, it is far from the distance of Pluto, but it is still inside the Oort cloud, and a swarm of millions of comets. Which surrounds the Solar System, and it extends to 100,000 astronomical units.
In 2017, Oumuamua was first sighted, the first object that came from interstellar, Omuamua is moving at such a speed relative to our Sun that it is unlikely that it was born in our Solar System. The first explorers believed that the reason for the fast speed of Oumuamua was attributed to its long journey. But now the researchers believe that due to the fast speed of Omuamua, the gravity of dark matter has been pressing on it for millions of years, due to which its motion of Omuamua was so fast that even the gravitational force of the Sun could not stop it.
Green and Belbruno write in their article, that if there is a planet beyond the reach of our solar system, then it is called planet 9 or planet X, the explorers are searching for such a planet. If such a planet is found, which is far from the reach of the solar system, it will be interesting to see how dark matter affects the orbit of this planet. Even if such a planet exists, hardly the gravity of dark matter can push it away from the region scientists are currently looking for.
Green and Belbruno say that a spacecraft does not need to go far from the solar system, dark matter can be measured without going far. At a distance of 100 astronomical units, he says, a spacecraft with the right experiments could help astronomers measure the effects of dark matter directly.
Researchers suggest, a spacecraft equipped with radioisotope power and the technology that allowed Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyagers and New Horizons to fly far away from the Sun may be able to make this measurement. A spacecraft capable of carrying a reflective ball, which can take the ball into space, and drop the ball at a reasonable distance. The ball would only feel the galactic force when falling from the spacecraft, and the spacecraft would experience a thermal force from a decaying radioactive element in its power system, in addition to galactic forces. The researchers can see how the galactic force is related to deviations in the respective trajectories of the ball and spacecraft when the thermal force is subtracted, and those deviations can be measured with a laser as the two objects fall parallel to each other.
