The Fifth Image: A Cosmic Anomaly Reveals the Secret of Dark Matter.

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A rare cosmic phenomenon, the Einstein Cross, has given us the key to seeing the invisible. Are we on the verge of solving the universe's biggest mystery? Thanks to an error in the gravitational lensing system, we've discovered a new dark matter halo. Science never ceases to amaze us! The fifth image of an Einstein Cross shows us that the universe holds secrets we are only just beginning to understand. #EinsteinCross #ScienceInAction #DarkMatterDiscovered

Transcript

00:00A Glimpse into the Invisible, the Mystery of Dark Matter

00:03Imagine peering into space and seeing something that shouldn't be there.

00:08That's precisely what happened to astrophysicist Charles Keaton

00:11when his colleague Andrew Baker showed him an unusual image.

00:15It was what's known as an Einstein cross, but with a twist,

00:19a fifth image right in the center.

00:22Keaton's reaction was immediate and telling.

00:25That's not supposed to happen.

00:26An Einstein cross is a cosmic configuration where light from a distant galaxy

00:31is bent and magnified by the gravity of massive galaxies in the foreground.

00:36This effect, known as gravitational lensing,

00:39typically creates four distinct images of the background galaxy.

00:42But in the system called Hearst 3, there was a fifth image.

00:46Keaton knew that this extra image pointed to something unusual in the mass that was bending the light,

00:51and that something unusual turned out to be a massive halo of dark matter.

00:55For those unfamiliar, dark matter makes up most of the universe's mass, but is invisible to us.

01:02We can't see it directly.

01:03Its presence is inferred by the gravitational effects it has on visible matter, and, crucially, on light.

01:10As Baker explained,

01:12we only know it's there because of how it affects the things we can see,

01:15like the way it bends light from distant galaxies.

01:18The discovery of this unusual five-image Einstein cross

01:21provided a unique opportunity to study this invisible structure in unprecedented detail.

01:27The journey to this discovery began with French astronomer Pierre Cox,

01:30who was the first to detect the anomaly in data from the Nomoran radio telescopes in the French Alps.

01:36Cox recalls his surprise.

01:38It looked like a cross, and there was this image in the center.

01:42I knew I had never seen that before.

01:43It was through careful computer modeling and analysis,

01:47led by Keaton and student Lana Ede, that the invisible became apparent.

01:51Their models showed that the four visible galaxies alone

01:54could not explain the five-image pattern they observed.

01:57The only way for their model to match the observations

02:00was with the addition of a large invisible mass,

02:03which they identified as a dark matter halo.

02:06We tried every reasonable configuration using just the visible galaxies,

02:10and none of them worked, Keaton stated.

02:12The only way to make the math and physics align was to add a dark matter halo.

02:17That's the power of modeling.

02:19It helps reveal what you can't see.

02:21This is not just a cool-looking cosmic phenomenon.

02:24It's scientifically invaluable.

02:27As Cox highlighted, this system is like a natural laboratory.

02:31The gravitational lensing effect not only magnifies the background galaxy,

02:35allowing astronomers to study its structure in greater detail,

02:38but also offers an exceptional opportunity to learn about the dark matter

02:42enveloping the foreground galaxies.

02:45The international team is already making more predictions,

02:48such as the potential visibility of gas flowing out of the distant galaxy

02:51in future observations.

02:53If these predictions are confirmed,

02:55they will strongly validate their models.

02:58If not, it will still lead to new insights

03:00illustrating the self-correcting nature of science.

03:02This groundbreaking work underscores the critical importance

03:06of international collaboration and federal support for scientific efforts.

03:11Using advanced observatories like ALMA, the VLA, and the Hubble Space Telescope,

03:15this unprecedented Einstein cross has opened a unique window

03:19into the universe's most elusive component, dark matter.

03:23Money experience.

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