Dark Matter Dictionary

Dark Matter - Celestial Objects, Invisible Matter, Cosmology - Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible form of matter that does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it undetectable by conventional telescopes. Despite being unseen, its presence is inferred from its gravitational effects on galaxies and cosmic structures. It is believed to make up about 27% of the universe's total mass-energy content, significantly outweighing visible matter. Dark matter plays a crucial role in galaxy formation and structure, preventing galaxies from flying apart due to their rapid rotation. Its existence was first proposed in the 1930s by Fritz Zwicky, who noticed discrepancies in the motion of galaxy clusters, and later confirmed through observations of galactic rotation curves by Vera Rubin. The leading theories suggest dark matter is composed of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) or axions, though its true nature remains unknown. Large-scale experiments, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and underground detectors, aim to identify dark matter particles, while gravitational lensing studies continue to map its distribution across the cosmos. Understanding dark matter is one of the biggest challenges in modern astrophysics, as it holds the key to explaining the universe's large-scale structure and evolution.