For nearly a century, dark matter has been one of the greatest mysteries in all of science. We know it exists as it makes up an estimated 85% of the universe’s total mass and acts as invisible gravitational scaffolding holding galaxies together, but no one has ever directly observed it. Until now, possibly. Professor Tomonori Totani, an astronomer at the University of Tokyo, has published a landmark study in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics reporting the detection of a mysterious halo-like glow of gamma rays near the center of the Milky Way, a signal that closely matches the expected footprint of dark matter particles annihilating each other. The data came from 15 years of observations by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. “When I first spotted what seemed like a signal, I was sceptical,” Totani said. “But when I checked it meticulously and felt confident it was correct, I got goosebumps.” He added: “If correct, it would mark the first time humanity has ‘seen’ dark matter.”
The scientific community is excited but appropriately cautious as independent experts note that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and more data is needed to confirm the finding. Totani himself acknowledges the detection isn’t definitive yet, and says the next step is to look for the same gamma-ray signature in the small dwarf galaxies that orbit our Milky Way. If the same signal shows up there, the case becomes dramatically stronger. The idea of dark matter dates back to 1933, when Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky noticed galaxies moving far too fast for their visible mass. Nearly 100 years later, we may finally be closing in on the answer.
Source: https://techfixated.com/astronomers-may-have-detected-the-first-direct-evidence-of-dark-matter/
