Maybe It’s Not Dark Matter, But the Fabric of Space Itself

Maybe we’re forcing ourselves to work with the wrong paradigm.

Perhaps the single greatest mysteries in astrophysics are those of dark energy and dark matter, which (according to current estimates) comprise 68% and 27% of our universe today. Baryonic matter — which comprises all matter down to the subatomic level — accounts for only 4.9% of the universe.

Problem is, despite our best efforts, we can’t seem to definitively detect either dark energy or dark matter. Of course that doesn’t mean they aren’t there — after all, we can see their effects upon the visible universe. Perhaps the reason we can’t detect them really is that our present level of technology is still too primitive, or that we’re just not looking for the right set of subatomic particles.

Here is some of the evidence for the presence of dark matter:

The rotation of galaxies and galactic clusters. Astrophysicists are able to estimate the amount of baryonic mass in a galaxy, though different kinds of galaxies require different methods of measurement. However, almost all galaxies rotate so quickly that the observed mass is insufficient to maintain the physical structure of those galaxies. Instead, the galaxies should be ejecting stars like sparks from a pinwheel.