How Do We Know Dark Matter Exists?

universetoday.com ^ | Fraser Cain

[AFPhys]

I wish that I had read your posts on this thread before I posted my #40... I would have pinged you to my thoughts if I had. Thanks for your posts.

[MrB]

These kinds of fudge factors are usually hypothesized in order to make observations fit an assumed conclusion.

The Oort Cloud comes to mind as well.

[AFPhys]

I have been somewhat disconnected from the cosmology field for about a decade, though I am very interested in it. I have looked at a couple of MOND sites discovered in search, but I am not satisfied. Can you recommend two or three for me to reconnect with this subject? (High math level is OK, and even desired.)

[stremba]

I’m certainly not an expert on the field. I have gotten most of what I know from reading science blog sites. You might try the www.science20.com website. I also find the “Starts with a Bang” blog on www.scienceblogs.com helpful, especially regarding the MOND vs Dark Matter question. (Ethan Siegel, the writer of that blog IS a cosmologist)

[AFPhys]

Thanks. I will check out those sites.

[GOPJ]

That is why current scientific understanding is that MOND is not the preferred model and that dark matter is. It’s not that scientists refused to consider that the current understanding of gravity is incorrect. Rather, it is that they did consider that possibility, but even modifying our models of gravity does not account for the observations.

Interesting...

[AFPhys]

I am realizing that it is going to take me a few weeks of study to get up to understanding the MOND vs. LCDM situation, and that by only moderately difficult math.

Div,Grad,Curl ... where are you??? I know that you’re lurking somewhere in my mind, but come out come out wherever you are!