Endless Facts, One Snippet at a Time
Dark Matter Halos: Invisible Skeletons of Galaxies
- Dark matter halos are invisible cocoons of matter that surround galaxies.
- They act as the “skeletons” holding galaxies together with their unseen gravity.
- Without halos, galaxies would fly apart—their visible mass isn’t enough to bind them.
- Halos are far larger than the galaxies they host, stretching hundreds of thousands of light-years.
- We can’t see dark matter, but we detect halos through their gravitational effects.
- Galaxy rotation curves—stars moving too fast at the edges—first revealed their presence.
- Halos also bend light from distant galaxies, a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
- Computer simulations show halos as the backbone of the cosmic web.
- They are thought to contain 80–90% of a galaxy’s total mass.
- Unlocking the mystery of halos could solve one of the biggest puzzles in modern physics.