Dark Matter May Have Helped Stars Develop

Dark matter is a word that those who follow science may hear about, but what you will not hear defined is exactly what dark matter is. It is not because scientists and the intellectuals who follow them are trying to confuse people. It is simply because the all we know is that dark matter must exist. It may seem strange to know that something you cannot see exists, but it would not be the first cosmological theory where the science behind something has not yet been seen. Dark matter, like black holes, has not as of yet been detected.

The reason scientists believe that dark matter exists has to do with the laws of gravity. The universe is estimated to be made up of at least 75% dark matter. The name does not denote mysticism or magical properties as it may suggest, but simply indicates matter that cannot be detected within the visible light spectrum. Speculations as to what dark matter might be might abound. Neutrinos were a favored specimen at one point, but have never been viable because they do not stay in flux and are not able to form cool dark matter. Several states of dark matter exist, baryonic, hot, and cool.

A new computer model however indicates that dark matter, whatever it may turn out to be, was crucial for the formation of stars in the early universe. The computer model developed by scientists working at the Institute for Computational Cosmology speculates that stars in the early universe formed along filaments that were shaped by dark matter. The new computer model gives insight into the potential properties of the material that makes up most of the universe. Astronomers show particular interest in the filament computer model because many stars that were created with it would have low mass and still be around in the universe today.

Dark matter may be crucial to the formation of the early universe and still make up much of the mass that exists in the expanding universe we see today. Even though we cannot see it, much like black holes we can observe the effects of dark matter by how objects we can see react to the mass of the objects that do not emit any kind of radiation that can directly be detected. No doubt the debate over what dark matter is and its effects on the universe since the Big Bang will continue to be debated.

Sources:

http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mwhite/darkmatter/dm.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6993870.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter