THE 鈥渕issing mass鈥� in the Universe may not be a headache for astronomers
after all, a report claims. It may consist of clouds of gas.
Astronomers have
calculated that more than 90 per cent of the matter in the Universe is
invisible. This 鈥渄ark鈥� matter is necessary to explain the observed gravitational
pull on galaxies in galaxy clusters.
But now Richard Lieu of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and his
colleagues say that high-energy ultraviolet light in satellite images of one
galaxy cluster is coming from warm clouds of gas, and that these clouds could
have enough mass to solve the problem (Astrophysical Journal Letters,
vol 498, p 17). 鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that these account for all the dark matter in the
cluster,鈥� says Lieu.
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