Physicists Detect Possible Dark Matter Signal from the Perseus and Andromeda Galaxies

Scientists may have detected a possible signal from dark matter. They've picked up an atypical photon emission in X-rays coming from space, which could be evidence for the existence of a particle of dark matter.

Until now, dark matter has been purely hypothetical. It's run by none of the standard models of physics other than through the gravitational force. That's why researchers have long searched for its existence through detectors.

If physicists only take visible matter into account when studying the dynamics of galaxies and the movement of stars, their equations don't add up. The elements that can be observed actually aren't sufficient to explain the rotation of objects and the existing gravitation forces. This "missing" component is dark matter, which is estimated to make up about 80 percent of the universe.

In this case, though, researchers may just have detected a signal that proves the existence of dark matter. One group of scientists detected it by analyzing X-rays emitted by two celestial objects, the Perseus galaxy cluster and the Andromeda galaxy. After collecting thousands of signals from ESA's XMM-Newton telescope and eliminating all of those coming from known particles and atoms, the scientists found an anomaly that caught their attention.

The signal appears as a weak, atypical photon emission that could not be attributed to any known form of matter.

""The signal's distribution within the galaxy corresponds exactly to what we were expecting with dark matter, that is, concentrated and intense in the center of objects and weaker and diffuse on the edges," said Oleg Ruchayskiy, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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