In the early 1900s, scientist Albert Einstein introduced the theory of general relativity, challenging everything that scientists at the time believed they understood about the universe.
Over the years, scientists have continuously questioned whether this theory is correct. However, a new dark matter map created recently has finally provided undeniable evidence.
To fully understand this development, we must first look at Einstein’s original theory. Before he introduced general relativity, scientists believed that the universe was largely unchanging.
Furthermore, they thought that time flowed at its own pace, regardless of the clocks that had been created to attempt to measure it, as Isaac Newton had proposed two centuries earlier.
Dark matter makes up 85% of our universe and remains a mystery. (Photo: sborisov/Adobe).
Nevertheless, Einstein proposed that both space and time are a force, termed spacetime, and that matter within this ever-changing phase is governed by the curvature dictated by gravitational force.
However, to create gravitational force, we need mass—a force so strong that it can literally bend spacetime around it. This is where dark matter comes into play.
Dark matter is an invisible force in our universe. Scientists believe it is the force that dictates how gravity bends and moves the universe, but we have never been able to map dark matter.
Even though it accounts for up to 85% of the universe’s matter, dark matter is incredibly difficult to detect. We can see its effects, but mapping and actually seeing where it exists is nearly impossible.
However, researchers using the Atacama Telescope have managed to do just that. They used light from the cosmic microwave background to detect all matter between us and the light from the Big Bang, which allowed them to map the dark matter hidden throughout the universe.
The images reveal that dark matter is found precisely where the earlier physical theories proposed by scientists have originated.
Now that we have a dark matter map in our universe, we can finally prove once again that Einstein’s theory is correct—a theory that others can only help develop and clarify further, but cannot oppose.
