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submitted 6 months ago by kinther@lemmy.world to c/space@lemmy.world
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[-] SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

There being a substance that does not interact with light at all doesn't seem that far fetched to me. There is nothing in the laws of the universe that says "Humans must be able to detect everything that exists because otherwise it wouldn't make sense."

It feels entirely possible that we won't be able to detect dark matter through any conventional means that we currently have.

[-] bouh@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago

It's not about humans. It's about science. "there is dark matter that doesn't interact with matter" can as well be "there is magic, and I cannot be proven wrong".

[-] bitcrafter@programming.dev 3 points 6 months ago

Dark matter does interact with matter, though: it interacts gravitationally. It just does not interact in other ways (that we know of yet). All you would have to do to disprove the existence of dark matter is to show that some things interact with it gravitationally but others don't. However, this is not what we see; what we actually see is a whole bunch of separate things that all experience the effect of the existence of dark matter in the same way. It's effectiveness as an explanation in this regard is exactly what makes it so difficult to dethrone.

[-] bouh@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago

Dark matter is exactly like adding a constant to your equation so that it fits the numbers.

[-] bitcrafter@programming.dev 3 points 6 months ago

If by "constant" you mean "3D distribution that explains not just one equation but lots of separate observations", then sure, it's just like that.

this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
218 points (92.2% liked)

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