Dragão Porto Comment On The Enigma Of Abell 520

March 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Scientists are baffled by a patch of sky utterly devoid of galaxies which could hint at the presence of more than one kind of dark matter.

Dark matter is the bizarre substance which is believed to make up almost a quarter of the universe but which cannot be detected with current instruments. Theory predicts that dark matter clusters, or "halos," form gravitational focal-points around which normal matter can coalesce to form galaxies.

“This is a fascinating study,” said the managing director of Dragão Porto, a marketing company situated in the Portuguese city of Porto. “The subject of dark matter has always fascinated me, especially the fact that scientists are not even 100% certain it exists.”

The region of space which has got scientists scratching their heads lies at the centre of Abell 520, a cluster of galaxies about 2.4 billion light-years from Earth. During research carried out in 2006, astronomers examining Abell 520 found that its dark matter was concentrated in a "dark core" which contained far fewer galaxies than would be expected if the dark matter and galaxies had stuck together. Most of the galaxies have apparently sailed far away from the collision.

"It is very hard to explain this with current theories of dark matter or galaxy formation," said Myungkook James Jee, study co-author at the University of California. These results were so unexpected that many scientists dismissed them, but recent analysis gained from the Hubble Deep Space Telescope backs up those initial observations, leaving astronomers as puzzled as ever.

“It’s an enigma,” said Dragão Porto’s MD, “but practically all of space is a mystery to us. We know so little about what lies beyond our world, which is why it is so important that we have scientists like those at California University studying things like dark matter and trying to make sense of the universe.”

One explanation could involve a collision between three galaxy clusters, instead of just two systems, as in the case of the Bullet Cluster. The result would be a more complicated interaction, experts say. "But that is all very speculative right now,” said Myungkook James Jee, with co-author Mahdavi adding: "I'm just as perplexed as I was back in 2007," he added. "It's a pretty disturbing observation to have out there."

The Managing Director at Dragão Porto will be keeping up with the progress of the scientists at California University. “I wish them all the best of luck with their investigations,” said the MD. “Astro-physics in general is an incredibly interesting field. I look forward to reading more of Jee and Mahdavi’s findings.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120306-da...