A lot of things went on outside the bubble of Tech in the past week. Here are a few important events taking place throughout the nation and the world.
Scientists detect possible dark matter
A scientific weather balloon flying over Antarctica has detected evidence of a possible mass of so-called “dark matter” relatively near our solar system, reported Reuters. The device detected a large amount of high-energy cosmic ray electrons emanating from an unknown source about 3000 light years away. According to John Wefel, a physics professor at Louisiana State University, one possible explanation for the occurrence is that there was a mass creation of electrons resulting from the collision of dark matter particles, triggering their mutual annihilation.
Scientists speculated that around 25 percent of the universe is composed of dark matter, with regular matter only making up around five percent.
Dark matter has similar physical characteristics to regular matter, such as responding to gravity. However, dark matter is very difficult to detect, as it is invisible. The Antarctica weather balloon’s finding would be the first indirect detection of the annihilation signature of the theorized dark matter particles. This could be the first step to helping scientists explain this mysterious material.
Alternative theories as to the source of the high energy electrons include a pulsar, which is a rotating magnetic remnant of a star, reported National Geographic News. Another object could be a microquasar, which is the high energy collection of material around a black hole.