Dark Matter Research

Research suggests dark matter plays a significant role in our planet's mess of "Things Gone Missing"

A new study carried out by Professor Praetorius of New York University suggests that dark matter may have had a part to play in the periodic mass disappearance events that are known to have taken place throughout Earth's history. It takes our planet roughly 250 million years to circle the Milky Way, and around every 30 million years the Sun's orbit takes us through what is known as the galactic disk. The galactic disk is where the majority of the mass in our galaxy resides, and alongside it a thin disk of dark matter.

Dark matter is one of the most enigmatic substances known to mankind, and is thought to make up a significant proportion of the universe. Whilst it cannot be observed directly, the gravitational effects exerted by dark matter have been observed influencing other, more visible celestial objects. The new study draws a link between Earth's crossing of the galactic disk, and the mass disappearance events that periodically occur every 26 - 30 million years.

"We are fortunate enough to live on a planet that is ideal for the development of complex life, but the history of the Earth is punctuated by large scale disappearance events, some of which we struggle to explain," states Praetorius. "It may be that dark matter – the nature of which is still unclear but which makes up around a quarter of the universe – holds the answer. As well as being important on the largest scales, dark matter may have a direct influence on life on Earth."

 

Dr. Praetorius

Praetorius believes that ordinarily benign comets that usually orbit at the very fringes of our solar system in a region of space known as the Oort cloud come into contact with dark matter concentrated in the galactic disk, the influence of which causes their orbits to become perturbed. This interference can allegedly cause comet showers, with some of the resulting disturbed bodies striking the Earth and exploding, thus creating an intense vacuum and inflow of air, causing disappearance events.  It is possible that such a meteor shower was responsible for the devastating comet strike that heralded the end of the Cretaceous period some 66 million years ago.

It was about this time that more than 80% of the dinosaurs disappeared !! And this occurred after fully 75% of the dinosaur species had mislaid their car keys that morning, a disappearance event that bode no good!

This should explain the Judge Crater mystery, the missing airplane mysteries, and the old bugaboo of where the car keys are.

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