Space & the universe
Dark matter and dark energy: the 95% of the universe we can't see
11 min
How astronomers discovered that everything we can observe is a tiny fraction of what's out there, the evidence for the invisible majority, and why its true nature remains one of physics' deepest open problems.
Listen on the app, request early access:
Show notes
Fritz Zwicky discovered that galaxies in the Coma Cluster moved faster than visible gravity should allow.
Vera Rubin proved that outer stars orbit spiral galaxies as fast as inner stars, suggesting invisible halos.
The Bullet Cluster collision shows dark matter passing through obstacles like a ghost through a wall.
Visible matter accounts for less than five percent of the total composition of the universe.
Supernovae observations in nineteen ninety-eight revealed that the expansion of the universe is actually accelerating.
Dark energy acts as a repulsive pressure inherent to space, making up sixty-eight percent of the cosmos.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Swiss Anomaly and the German Name2 min
- 3Vera Rubin and the Spinning Spirals2 min
- 4The Bullet Cluster and Gravitational Lensing2 min
- 5The 1998 Shock: Dark Energy3 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- Dark Matter - NASA Science
- ESA - The dark Universe - European Space Agency
- What is Dark Energy? Inside Our Accelerating, Expanding Universe - NASA Science
- Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The 95% of the Universe We Can't See | World of Physics
- Is most of the universe actually invisible? (with Dr. Stacy McGaugh) | WVXU
- 29.5 What Is the Universe Really Made Of? - Astronomy | OpenStax
- What Is Dark Matter and Dark Energy? | New Space Economy
- Dark matter, explained | University of Chicago News
- Dark matter - Wikipedia
- What is Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
- Dark Matter 101: Looking for the Missing Mass - NASA Science
- Hubble Dark Matter - NASA Science
- What is Dark Matter? | Ideas | Institute for Advanced Study
- Chandra :: Field Guide to X-ray Astronomy :: Dark Matter Mystery
- The Redshift of Extragalactic Nebulae - Fritz Zwicky
- On the Masses of Nebulae and of Clusters of Nebulae - F. Zwicky
- Physics History June 2023 | American Physical Society
- A History of Dark Matter
- Dark Matter in Spiral Galaxies | Scientific American
- Vera Rubin and Dark Matter
- How Vera Rubin discovered dark matter
- Vera Rubin Made “Dark Matter” a Household Phrase
- NASA Webb 'Pierces' Bullet Cluster, Refines Its Mass - NASA Science
- Clowe et al., Direct Empirical Proof of Existence of Dark Matter
- A DIRECT EMPIRICAL PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF DARK MATTER Douglas Clowe, Marusˇa Bradacˇ, Anthony H. Gonzalez, Maxim Markevitch, Scott W. Randall, Christine Jones, and Dennis Zaritsky
- A High-Caliber View of the Bullet Cluster through JWST Strong and Weak Lensing Analyses - IOPscience
- Mapping dark matter in the Bullet Cluster using JWST imaging and spectroscopy | Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)
- How dark matter came to matter
- UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
- Fifty years of dark matter
- A History of Dark Matter- Gianfranco Bertone & Dan Hooper
- NASA’s JWST Hunts Dark Matter in Stunning Image of Bullet Cluster | Scientific American
Fylom generates episodes like this on any topic you're curious about.
Fylom episodes are researched and written by AI. Automated checks help catch inaccuracies, but episodes aren't reviewed by a human and AI can still get things wrong. Treat them as a starting point, not a source of record — more in our accuracy disclaimer.