Astronomers have gathered overwhelming evidence that 80 per cent of all matter in the Universe is invisible. This ‘dark matter’ explains what binds galaxies together and makes them rotate.
The large-scale structure of the Universe and measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) also prove that something as-yet undetermined permeates through the cosmos.
Although there’s evidence that dark matter forms vast halos around galaxies and clusters, while being sparse in enormous ‘voids’, there’s no reason to suppose dark matter doesn’t also exist on or around Earth.
In fact, one study suggests there are 24 trillion metric tonnes of dark matter lying between Earth and the Moon! Whether this is true or not is yet to be determined.
This article is an answer to the question (asked by Charles Adcock, via email) 'Could dark matter be all around planet Earth but undetectable?'
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