Vera Rubin Spinning Galaxies Diagram
Chapter 1

When looking at the stars was a crime

Chapter 2

The invisible forces shaping everything

Chapter 3

Mysterious structures in the deep dark

Chapter 4

Where the laws of physics break down

Ch 2 · The invisible forces shaping everything
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007skaty Astronomer Vera Rubin studied how stars rotate inside spinning galaxies

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What is visible is rarely enough to explain how things hold together.

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007skaty Scientists hunt for elusive dark matter particles called WIMPs.

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Fritz Zwicky and the discovery of dark matter

007skaty The scientific community ignored Zwicky's radical theory about the Coma Cluster, located 321 million light-years away, for decades.

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Vera Rubin and the spinning galaxies

007skaty Observations at Kitt Peak Observatory revealed invisible dark matter halos holding galaxies together.

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The mysterious push of dark energy
BETA

007skaty Drag galaxies apart to discover how the mysterious push of dark energy expands space.

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Fun Fact

Invisible universe: Everything we can see, touch, and detect with telescopes makes up only about five percent of the entire universe; the rest is completely dark and mysterious.

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Glossary
dark matter (noun)
A hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light, detected through its gravitational pull. In the 1970s, astronomer Vera Rubin found galactic stars orbiting unexpectedly fast, providing key evidence of its existence.

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Gossip

What is the most exciting mystery of the invisible universe to you?

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Quiz

In 1933, astronomer Fritz Zwicky discovered evidence of dark matter while studying which specific group of galaxies?

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007skaty Dark energy exerts a powerful outward push on the entire universe

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Quiz

What German term did Fritz Zwicky coin in 1933 to describe the invisible mass holding galaxy clusters together?

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Quiz

At which observatory did Vera Rubin perform her groundbreaking 1970s observations of galaxy rotation speeds?

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Quiz

What did Vera Rubin observe about the rotation speeds of stars on the outer edges of spiral galaxies?

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Quiz

Approximately what percentage of the universe is estimated to be composed of mysterious dark energy?

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Quiz

In what year did astronomers discover that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, leading to the concept of dark energy?

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Quiz

What chemical element, kept in liquid form inside deep underground detectors, is used to try and capture collisions with dark matter particles?

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Quiz

In which US state is the ultra-sensitive LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter detector located deep inside a former gold mine?

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