Dark Matter Mystery: Study Reveals Secrets Of Ancient Galaxy Found By Webb

Known as JWST-ER1g, the massive galaxy was formed when the universe was just a quarter of its current age, or 3.4 billion years old. It has an Einstein ring around it, which harbours secrets.

Scientists studying an ancient galaxy discovered by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have revealed interesting secrets about an Einstein ring associated with the galaxy. Dark matter is the answer to a mystery physicists had been trying to solve since the galaxy's discovery in 2023. ( Image Source :Nature Astronomy )

In 1933, California Institute of Technology's Fritz Zwicky found the first real evidence for dark matter. Using the Mount Wilson Observatory, he measured the visible mass of a cluster of galaxies, and found that it was too small to prevent the galaxies from escaping the gravitational pull of the cluster. He proposed that something else was serving as glue to hold the clusters of galaxies together, and named that unknown entity dunkle Materie, which is German for dark matter. Over the years,