- Primordial black holes the size of a hydrogen molecule may be dark matter
- ‘PHBs’ could help prove dark matter exists as its gravity ‘wobbles’ around Earth’s orbit
- But a primordial black hole could swallow the entire Earth if it gets too close
- READ MORE: NASA animation shows ‘monstrous’ black holes lurking in every galaxy
Scientists have discovered that some ancient black holes are disrupting Earth’s orbit.
A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has suggested Swirling masses of matter, called primordial black holes (PBHs), fly past our solar system at least once a decade, disturbing planets and moons.
The PBH, who formed sShortly after the Big Bang, 12.8 billion years ago, they are the size of a microbe, but have an asteroid-like density that could cause their orbits to “wobble.”
The team’s claim suggests that the planets’ distances from the Sun or Earth could change over time.
When primordial black holes pass near a planet, physicists calculate that “the planet begins to wobble or sway slightly on the path it was taking.” Above, simulations show how black holes bend a starry background and capture light, forming a black hole silhouette or “photon ring.”
PBHs were proposed in 1947 by astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and his doctoral student Bernard Carr, who argued that during the early moments of the Big Bang, “lumpy” regions that had extra mass may have formed in the universe and became into black holes when they collapsed. .
But ancient black holes have not yet been detected in the universe.
The new study is based on the theory that the universe is full of PBHs, meaning the objects would have to pass through our cosmic vicinity.
The universe is full of ancient “primordial black holes,” formed from swirling masses of matter shortly after the Big Bang, rather than from a dying star, theoretical physicists say.
The researchers calculated how close a PBH would have to get inside a planet or moon in our solar system to alter the motion.
The study used a simulation that features all eight planets, about 300 planetary satellites (like moons), more than 1.3 million asteroids and almost 4,000 comets.
And the model also included unauthorized PBHs.
The team observed that If one with the mass of an asteroid came within just two astronomical units of the Sun, the orbits of the planets and moons would wobble by up to several feet.
However, the researchers noted that the wobble would not destroy our planet.
They are now developing methods to measure those gravitational oscillations, in an effort to gather the first concrete evidence demonstrating the long-theorized “dark matter.”
Physicists have long estimated that about 85 percent of all matter in the universe is dark matter, but none of this large amount has ever been detected.
Essentially, their plan is to measure any gravitational ‘wobbles’ that change the distance from Earth to the Moon, along with many other well-known orbits within our solar system to identify any small but dense specks of dark matter passing by us. .