Not in stars or galaxies: scientists have discovered where most of the ordinary matter in the Universe is located
Kyiv • UNN
Research has shown that 90% of the ordinary matter in the Universe is located between galaxies. Astronomers used fast radio bursts to detect this missing matter.
Scientists have established that a significant part of the ordinary matter of the Universe is not concentrated in stars or galaxies. This is reported by UNN with reference to space.com.
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According to the study, 90% of the matter in the Universe is predominantly located in the space between galaxies. At the same time, according to the Big Bang theory, about 5% of the Universe's content consists of ordinary, or baryonic, matter. These are atoms, as well as protons, neutrons, and electrons.
However, astronomers could not find a significant part of this matter in visible objects. Stars contain only about 0.5% of all matter in the Universe, according to the study.
Recently, astronomers used a new tool to solve the problem of missing matter. Fast radio bursts are intense bursts of radio waves that can emit as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun emits in three days. First discovered in 2007, scientists have found that the bursts are caused by compact stellar remnants in distant galaxies. Their energy is depleted as the bursts travel through space, and by the time this energy reaches Earth, it is a thousand times weaker than a cell phone signal emitted on the Moon and received on Earth.