Welcome to my Blog here at Life in Italy!
I plan on covering alot of ground on this blog - from Italian history, traditions, food and wine, travel stories, Italian-American heritage, to whatever happens to be on my mind.
I plan on covering alot of ground on this blog - from Italian history, traditions, food and wine, travel stories, Italian-American heritage, to whatever happens to be on my mind.
Italian Scientists Get Closer To Finding Dark Matter
Posted 04-02-2009 at 01:18 PM by justindemetri
Ahhh, space. I have always looked up and wondered what's going on up there. Even though my horrible math skills steered me clear of Astronomy in school, it never stopped me from reading the latest discoveries.
I kind of see space exploration in a similar vein as the Age of Discovery, but on a much longer time-scale. With my connection to the ocean from my family, its no wonder that I see space as the new, unexplored 'Ocean-Sea'.
So to me it is fitting that Italian scientists, much like the master mariners of our heritage, are leading the way...
I kind of see space exploration in a similar vein as the Age of Discovery, but on a much longer time-scale. With my connection to the ocean from my family, its no wonder that I see space as the new, unexplored 'Ocean-Sea'.
So to me it is fitting that Italian scientists, much like the master mariners of our heritage, are leading the way...
Quote:
ITALIAN-LED SPACE MISSION `FINDS` DARK MATTER TRACES
(ANSA) - Rome, April 2 - An Italian-led space mission may
have collected the first concrete evidence of dark matter,
according to scientists.
A highly sensitive detector launched in 2006 to study
cosmic rays has recorded an unexpected abundance of
positrons, the antimatter counterpart of the electron, which
may be left behind when dark matter is destroyed.
``This is a fantastic result,`` said research
coordinator Piergiorgio Picozza of the National Institute of
Nuclear Physics of the breakthrough to be published in
Nature.
``It`s the first real evidence of the possibility of
dark matter, although it`s still necessary to collect further
data``.
Further research will need to exclude other possible
sources of the positrons, such as spinning stars called
pulsars that emit electromagnetic radiation, or cosmic rays
impacting with atoms.
But Picozza said he was ``hopeful`` that other sources
would be ruled out.
Dark matter is the hypothetical, invisible matter
believed by astrophysicists to account for around 23% of the
universe, and whose presence is inferred from gravitational
effects on visible matter.
Visible matter, which makes up the stars and planets,
comprises just 4-5% of the universe, while the remaining 72%
is dark energy, a hypothetical energy form that some
cosmologists say is behind the accelerating rate of the
expansion of the universe.
Picozza and his team used data from the Pamela (Payload
for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei
Astrophysics) satellite, which is a joint initiative between
Italy, Germany, Sweden and Russia.
(ANSA) - Rome, April 2 - An Italian-led space mission may
have collected the first concrete evidence of dark matter,
according to scientists.
A highly sensitive detector launched in 2006 to study
cosmic rays has recorded an unexpected abundance of
positrons, the antimatter counterpart of the electron, which
may be left behind when dark matter is destroyed.
``This is a fantastic result,`` said research
coordinator Piergiorgio Picozza of the National Institute of
Nuclear Physics of the breakthrough to be published in
Nature.
``It`s the first real evidence of the possibility of
dark matter, although it`s still necessary to collect further
data``.
Further research will need to exclude other possible
sources of the positrons, such as spinning stars called
pulsars that emit electromagnetic radiation, or cosmic rays
impacting with atoms.
But Picozza said he was ``hopeful`` that other sources
would be ruled out.
Dark matter is the hypothetical, invisible matter
believed by astrophysicists to account for around 23% of the
universe, and whose presence is inferred from gravitational
effects on visible matter.
Visible matter, which makes up the stars and planets,
comprises just 4-5% of the universe, while the remaining 72%
is dark energy, a hypothetical energy form that some
cosmologists say is behind the accelerating rate of the
expansion of the universe.
Picozza and his team used data from the Pamela (Payload
for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei
Astrophysics) satellite, which is a joint initiative between
Italy, Germany, Sweden and Russia.
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