One of the most challenging mysteries has just been utilized to explore another mystery.
Scientists used powerful bursts of radio waves discovered in distant galaxies to investigate the space between the stars. Here is what they found.
The Universe’s Matter is Only Hidden
In the eternal abysses that stretch between galaxies, gas so thin that other instruments can’t trace it has reached out those millisecond radio signals, enough so that scientists can examine it. From those measurements, they discovered that very dispersed gas could account for all the lost “normal” matter in the Universe.
“The finding of fast radio bursts and their localization to distant galaxies were the key breakthrough needed to solve this mystery,” explained J. Xavier Prochaska, an astronomer at the UC Santa Cruz.
The fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mighty bursts of radio waves from deep space. They discharge so much radiation, almost hundreds of millions of Suns, in only milliseconds. Most of them flare once and have not been spotted since. So they’re challenging to anticipate, and hard to localize. Scientists, however, can calculate how far FRBs travel and then use them as a tool for probing space.
Radio signals aren’t enough to determine the composition of the matter, but the amount measured from the FRBs was compatible with the amount of matter anticipated from measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background. It’s a fantastic result, the best proof that the missing matter is only hiding somewhere in space.
“The radiation from FRBs gets spread out by the missing matter in the same way that you see the colors of sunlight being separated in a prism,” detailed Jean-Pierre Macqaurt, an astronomer at the Curtin University.
The result is based on only a few signals, examining more of them would be perfect for characterizing the matter more fully. Where the missing matter is most concentrated could then offer the necessary data that scientists need to understand how the Universe evolved.
