{"id":14054,"date":"2017-03-15T14:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14054"},"modified":"2017-03-13T19:45:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T23:45:18","slug":"14054","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14054","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Early galaxies show much less dark matter than those formed later"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from\u00a0ESO<\/a>\u00a0(European Southern Observatory:<\/p>\n

Dark Matter Less Influential in Galaxies in Early Universe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Schematic representation of rotating disc galaxies in the early Universe (right) and the present day (left). Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope suggest that such massive star-forming disc galaxies in the early Universe were less influenced by dark matter (shown in red), as it was less concentrated. As a result the outer parts of distant galaxies rotate more slowly than comparable regions of galaxies in the local Universe. [Full size image<\/a>. See also same image with graphs<\/a> of rotation speeds. ]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>New observations indicate that massive, star-forming galaxies during the peak epoch of galaxy formation, 10 billion years ago, were dominated by baryonic or \u201cnormal\u201d matter. This is in stark contrast to present-day galaxies, where the effects of mysterious dark matter seem to be much greater. This surprising result was obtained using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope and suggests that dark matter was less influential in the early Universe than it is today. The research is presented in four papers, one of which will be published in the journal Nature this week.<\/p>\n

We see normal matter as brightly shining stars, glowing gas and clouds of dust. But the more elusive dark matter<\/a> does not emit, absorb or reflect light and can only be observed via its gravitational effects. The presence of dark matter can explain why the outer parts of nearby spiral galaxies<\/a> rotate more quickly than would be expected if only the normal matter that we can see directly were present [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n