Exactly what is dark matter??

Question

I mean what do you think it REALLY is....
not just, well it 'must exist' to explain the anaomolies in the rotation of the galaxies etc,

Very good admission KittyKat.

So we believe in something that is immeasureable, unseeable, and indeterminable simply because we have no other theory to explain certain 'apparent' anomolous motions in the universe. Hmm....doesn't sound too scientific to me...sounds like pure speculation.

Answer 1

well personally i don't believe in dark matter because there is no method to detect it except through interaction with matter near it ,which can also be explained with something else.
just because science cant explain the gravitation effect of something doesnt mean they can cook up a new theory to explain that too.

Answer 2

Thats what scientists are still trying to figure out. As of now, we haven't the slightest inkling of what it could be made of, how its formed, properties, or anything else. All we know for sure is that dark matter and dark energy compose of by far most of the universe. I have actually heard that that number is in the 90% range.

Answer 3

In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter refers to hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. According to present observations of structures larger than galaxy-sized as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for the vast majority of mass in the observable universe. Fritz Zwicky used it for the first time to declare the observed phenomena consistent with dark matter observations as the rotational speeds of galaxies and orbital velocities of galaxies in clusters, gravitational lensing of background objects by galaxy clusters such as the Bullet cluster, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Dark matter also plays a central role in structure formation and galaxy evolution, and has measurable effects on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. All these lines of evidence suggest that galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole contain far more matter than that which interacts with electromagnetic radiation: the remainder is called the "dark matter component".

Answer 4

Dark matter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Dark matter (disambiguation).

Answer 5

Dark "matter" is a bit of a paradox; it is, in fact, the absence of matter; it is what fills in the vacuum of space, which is impossible, considering there is nothing in a vacuum.

Answer 6

dark matter refers to hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly

Answer 7

No one knows what it is. All we know is that it makes up 85% of the universe.