Scientists Confirm Existence of Dark Matter

For years, scientists have theorized that Dark Matter and Dark Energy play a fundamental role in the construction of our universe, but they've had a really hard time actually proving they exist.

That all changed when scientists studying the result of an ancient galactic collision discovered evidence which appears to confirm the existence of Dark Matter.While the scientists are not sure exactly what dark matter is, since they have yet to identify it in a laboratory, they said the workings of the universe cannot be explained without it.

The finding will have potentially great impact on an active debate among physicists and cosmologists about not only dark matter, but the workings of gravity. Indeed, the theory of dark matter evolved largely to explain the finding several decades ago that there was not enough visible matter in the universe to produce and account for the gravity needed to keep galaxies from flying apart.

``A universe that's dominated by dark stuff seems preposterous, so we wanted to test whether there were any basic flaws in our thinking," said Doug Clowe of the University of Arizona in Tucson, leader of the NASA-Harvard University study. ``These results are direct proof that dark matter exists."The discovery was made using the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory.Scientists said a collision between the enormous ``bullet" cluster of galaxies more than 3 billion light years away and another smaller galaxy cluster proved the existence of dark matter by, in effect, stripping the dark matter away from visible matter.

Once stripped, dark matter was clearly identified by the strong gravitational pull that it exerted.

``We now have direct evidence" of dark matter, said Sean Carroll, a cosmologist in the Physics Department of the University of Chicago, who did not participate in the study. ``There is no way to explain the observations without dark matter."Not everyone is convinced, however, including Stacy McGaugh, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, who is an outspoken Dark Matter skeptic.``I've been aware of this result some time, and I agree that it is interesting, and may make more sense in terms of dark matter than alternative gravity," he said. ``However, it is premature to say so."

He said a definitive detection of dark matter particles would mean ``grabbing them in the laboratory, not just inferring that their effects can be the only possible explanation for an observation before the alternatives have actually been checked."Mr. McGaugh then declared "Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny don't exist, either, and that chick in The Crying Game is actually a dude."

NASA scientists said that their next step is to confirm Dark Matter's existence in a lab, and Mr. McGaugh can shut up his big stupid face.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/all/17805/Scientists-Confirm-Existence-of-Dark-Matter/