Gamma-Ray Telescope Offers New Clues About Dark Matter

(MENAFN) NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may have delivered what could be the first direct indication of dark matter, effectively allowing the elusive substance to be “seen” for the initial time, according to new research released on Wednesday.

A stream of gamma rays emerging from the Milky Way’s core appears to exhibit the hallmark of dark matter, based on a study featured in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

Tomonori Totani of the University of Tokyo suggested that these results might constitute a pivotal step in the prolonged effort to identify dark matter — a theoretical, unseen type of matter that fails to interact with electromagnetic radiation.

The idea traces back to the early 1930s, when Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky observed that galaxies were moving more rapidly than their visible mass allowed, implying the existence of an invisible framework maintaining their cohesion.

Up until this point, dark matter had only been recognized through its gravitational influence.

Researchers explain that it cannot be directly observed because dark matter particles do not engage with electromagnetic forces and therefore cannot absorb, reflect, or emit light.

Drawing on updated observations from NASA’s Fermi telescope, Totani believes he has spotted gamma rays consistent with predictions of annihilating hypothetical dark matter particles.

“We detected gamma rays with a photon energy of 20 gigaelectronvolts … extending in a halo-like structure toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy,” he said in a statement issued by the university.

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