DARK MATTER
There is a wide area of space that we cannot observe because the Milky Way itself prevents us from doing so
Just behind our galaxy there is a wide area of space that we cannot observe because the Milky Way itself prevents us from doing so. Astronomers know it as the ‘avoidance zone’ or, more simply, as the ’empty zone’. It is a true ‘ghost region’, a dark spot on our map of the Universe. And a large dot, encompassing 10-20% of the entire night sky.
The center of our galaxy is enormously dense. There, in fact, the largest number of stars are concentrated, surrounded by huge clouds of dust and gas, so dense that they do not allow light from the objects behind them to pass through. But astronomers have at their disposal instruments that begin to ‘see’ through that wall: infrared telescopes. Infrared radiation is not visible to the human eye, but it is powerful enough to shine through the thick clouds at the galactic center.
In this ‘Dark Matter’, we explain how the team of researchers led by Daniela Galdeano, from the National University of San Juan, in Argentina, has combined data from the most important infrared observation campaigns and has revealed the most enormous of structures seen so far in the empty zone.
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