In a development that could finally shed light on dark matter, an international team of scientists has detected neutral hydrogen atoms, from a galaxy other than our own, for the first time.
The find was made thanks to the huge five hundred meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST), which is located in a green and mountainous natural basin in Guizhou province, southwest China.
The researchers detected hydrogen from three extragalactic galaxies with just five minutes of exposure, a feat that demonstrates the telescope’s exceptional sensitivity. It is the first time that neutral hydrogen has been detected from outside the Milky Way.
“With measurements of neutral hydrogen and carbon monoxide, scientists can estimate the dynamic mass of galaxies at different radii, and can further study baryon distributions [a type of subatomic particle] and dark matter “ explained Dr. Cheng Cheng, first author of the research.
Dark matter is a form of matter believed to account for 85 percent of matter in the universe, but has not yet been directly detected, despite the researchers’ best efforts. Finding him would finally solve one of the most dazzling mysteries in science.
FAST observation indicates the contribution of dark matter and illustrates the potential to study mysterious matter in galaxies through neutral hydrogen.
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Detection of extragalactic neutral hydrogen is one of the main objectives of the huge telescope and is made possible by the massive size of the single dish. In addition to being the world’s largest full-aperture radio telescope, it is the second largest single-dish telescope after Russia’s RATAN-600.
Nicknamed Tianyan (meaning “ Heaven’s Eye ”), the 1.2 billion yuan ($ 170 million) machine is made up of approximately 4,400 aluminum panels and has more than 2,000 lathes that allow it to target different parts of the sky .
Dr. Cheng said the team is requesting more FAST observation time to further study the properties of neutral hydrogen.
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