What is Dark Matter?
It is a pleasure to meet you! Dark matter is one of the most exciting mysteries in modern science, and I'd love to help you explore it. Before we dive into the cosmos, could you tell me a little bit about your background in science or astronomy? Are you looking for a brief, high-level overview, or would you prefer a deeper, more technical explanation?
Just a high-level overview, please!
To get our bearings, it helps to start with what dark matter isn't. Even though it sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie, dark matter is a very real, invisible substance that does not interact with light or any other form of .
dark matter
noun
A hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or electromagnetic radiation, but whose presence is inferred by its gravitational effects on visible matter.
Because it doesn't interact with light, it doesn't reflect, absorb, or emit any radiation. If you held a clump of dark matter in your hand, it would be entirely invisible, and your hand would pass right through it as if nothing were there. Yet, we know it's there because of its immense gravitational pull.