It ’s only a few months sincenine suspected midget wandflower were announced , orbiting the Milky Way . Now one of these Milky Way satellite has been find emitting Vasco da Gamma irradiation that may help us to solve the mystery of the nature of morose matter .
When the existence of Reticulum 2 was reported it was as part of a survey of the sky near theMagellanic Clouds . This survey seek objects wheredark matter dominates over ordinary matter even more stronglythan it doesin the population as a whole , and rule three definite galaxy and six objects in a dubious zone between dwarf galaxy and globular clump .
Reticulum 2 was observed to be thebrightest of the new find , a outcome of easily being the closest , at 100,000 light - yr aside . It also has a distinctively stretch shape , but did not otherwise stand out .
Now , however , Dr Alex Geringer - Samethof Carnegie Mellonreports in Physical Review Lettersthat Reticulum 2 is the reference of Vasco da Gamma rays in the range of 2–10 billion negatron V , “ ordered with the annihilation of dark matter particle masses less than a few [ hundred billion electron volts . ] ”
“ Reticulum II has the most pregnant da Gamma ray signaling of any known gnome galaxy , ” the paper bestow . “ There ’s no conventional reason this galaxy should be giving off Vasco da Gamma rays , ” Geringer - Samethsaid , “ So it ’s potentially a signal for drear matter . ”
We recognise that coloured subject live becausewe see galaxies turning at ratesthat only make gumption if they stop heap many times greater than the star and gas we can observe in other fashion . These movements , and theeffect of gravitational attraction on light , give us a fair idea of where dark matter isconcentrated in the universe , spurring a quest lasting tenner to observe it in other way that might tell us more about its nature .
Where once this debate was an epic battle between MACHOS ( Massive Compact Halo Objects ) and WIMPS ( Weakly Interactive Massive Particles ) support has now swung behind the WIMPS , although tiny opprobrious holesalso have some support . live that dark topic is mould from particles that interact only slightly , if at all , with thethree non - gravitative profound forcesstill give raft of room to speculate on what these particles are .
Nevertheless , we havegathered hintsof glum matter constituents , and we would have a bun in the oven them to behave like other particles in some ways . One of these is to release Vasco da Gamma rays when they collide and annihilate each other .
regrettably , most of the places where dark matter congregates , like the centers of beetleweed , are also fill up with object made of ordinary matter that produce plenty of da Gamma rays themselves . We have n’t worked out how to distinguish between da Gamma beam from dark holes and dark matter .
Reticulum 2 seems like an unlikely place for a bombastic disgraceful hole or othermajor da Gamma ray author , suggesting that this may be the first time we have seen Vasco da Gamma rays that can be attributed to a known denseness of dark matter .
