Clever Math Puts a Firm Number on the Amount of Dark Matter in Existence
Counting up the missing mass Dark matter, the material that makes up the majority of the matter in the universe, remains so mysterious that scientists don't even know how much of it there is, let alone how it behaves. However, using new calculations about the interaction between black holes and dark matter, scientists have deduced an upper limit on the amount of dark matter in the Milky Way. The researchers calculate that the maximum dark matter density comes in with around seven times the mass of the sun dispersed through a cubic-light year of space. If a section of dark matter that dense filled the space of our solar system, it would weigh about 14,000 times more than the mass of the eight planets, the asteroids, and the Sun combined. By maintaining a relatively high mass, our galaxy's dark matter generates enough gravity to hold the stars and nebulae together. Without...