I+Essay

  At one point in every person’s life, they stare out at the glossy stars and yell, “I’m significant!!!”, however they most likely have never produced a small thought about the bond that holds that colossal galaxy together. From the ways that Dark Matter holds the universe together, to the difficulty of viewing it, to the reason planet Earth isn’t hurling in the direction of galaxy XIQ-835-92H.57, Dark Matter is truly one of the most astonishing and flabbergasting things, known about or not, in existence.  The way that this mysterious substance functions is not even clear to the most sophisticated and inquisitive scientists; it is surely one of the mysteries of life. Around the late nineteen thirties, astrophysicists conducted a series of calculations that led them to this thought: Our galaxy does not possess enough gravity to hold everything it contains together, so it should be hurling in all directions. Scientists soon produced the idea that there was something else out there securing our system of stars together. After much more consideration, this invisible force that kept the galaxy together was named Dark Matter. Most people that have ever heard of Dark Matter in the late thirties thought that it was a preposterous idea, and that Dark Matter was just a series of Black Holes. It is now know that Dark Matter is the glue that holds space together.

 In comparison to the many astounding things that Dark Matter does to keep order in space, its ability to do so is limited. If Dark Matter is to work it’s amazing effects with gravity, it first needs a large group of itself, accompanied by ton of room. Dark Matter is everywhere, it is probably floating through a lot of people right now. If a person were to reach their hand out it would probably pass through about seventy bits of Dark Matter and neutrinos. For someone to even feel a small pull of Dark Matter, they would need about one and a half clouds of it, clouds the size of Earth. Dark Matter can only take effect on a large scale because it has no mass, it needs dark energy (Dark energy expands the universe. Into what, we don’t know.) to make a bigger space for it to group. Because of the space Dark Matter needs to have effect, it must use the farthest reaches of existence to accumulate. Due to the trillions of light years that separate us from the most cavernous part of space, there are only two ways to witness abnormal effects of Dark Matter; effects such as a planet flying out of orbit, or a sun spontaneously shrinking. (Dark Matter is invisible so scientists must view its effects and side-effects instead.) One of the two ways is called solar lensing. The other way to see these phenomenons, is when an electron and a proton crash together, creating a high powered light that illuminates everything within a mile of it. The problem with this method is that the light can only shine on things for about half a second because of the speed at which it travels. To use Solar Lensing to illuminate things around it is a more efficient way to view space. This photo illustrates how solar lensing works. Solar lensing and combining positive and negative light particles are the only two ways to view the side effects of Dark Matter.

 In addition to the ways someone can contemplate the side effects of Dark Matter, they must first know what to look for. Ex.If someone were to say that they wanted to go find the best colleges in the world, and they did not know what a college was; where would that get them? There are only a few things that happen with a side-effect of Dark Matter. (Effects like these are very rare and do not often occur.) These things alert people if there are strong waves of Dark Matter heading toward Earth that could potentially disrupt Earth’s orbit around the sun. One of the signs of an approaching cloud of Dark Matter is if a planet from a nearby galaxy, such as Andromeda (An-dro-mead-a), spirals out of orbit. Another side-effect to look for is a sun starting to implode on itself because of its own gravity amplified by the gravity of Dark Matter. Other effects of Dark Matter include doused suns, exploded stars, and spontaneous changes in planet paths around suns. From the time that mankind has had advanced space technology scientists have never seen side-effects of Dark Matter within two thousand light years from Earth, so there is not a huge threat of things like these occurring.


 * Even though Dark Matter is not a very well known substance, scientists still have the theory, and a small amount of information that support their idea. Dark Matter is like the computer code or the building frame that props everything on its pedestal; making planet orbit possible. Though it can not be witnessed because it has no depth or mass, calculations show that the galaxy should look like a poorly built building in an everlasting tornado. Astrophysiology discovered Dark Matter, and will also build on the theory, but people, are the ones who do the rest. **

Dyer, Dave. "Dark Matter."
 * ~Bibliography~_ **

[|__http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_827.html__]

White, Martain. "Dark Matter."

[|__http://astro.berkeley.edu/research/projects/astrophysics.html__] ___