{"id":160610,"date":"2024-10-24T13:33:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/24\/a-near-earth-asteroid-offers-clues-to-one-dark-matter-theory\/"},"modified":"2024-10-24T13:33:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:33:49","slug":"a-near-earth-asteroid-offers-clues-to-one-dark-matter-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/24\/a-near-earth-asteroid-offers-clues-to-one-dark-matter-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"A near-Earth asteroid offers clues to one dark matter theory\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/e_conover?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A near-Earth asteroid offers clues to one dark matter theory\u00a0\" title=\"A near-Earth asteroid offers clues to one dark matter theory\u00a0\" \/><\/div> \r\n<br><div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar single__rich-text___RmCDp\" data-component=\"video-embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n<p>A hypothetical \u201cfifth force\u201d could tug on asteroids, if it exists. But the asteroid Bennu shows no signs that its orbit has been tweaked by such a force. That sets a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42005-024-01779-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ceiling on how strong a potential fifth force could be<\/a>, physicists report September 20 in\u00a0<em>Communications Physics<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists know of four forces in the universe: electromagnetism, gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces. But some scientists suspect a fifth force might exist. For one thing, a fifth force might help explain a major unsolved physics puzzle: the identity of the unknown source of mass throughout the universe known as dark matter.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.email-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  color: white;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-image: url(\"\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg\");\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text embedded-conversion-content is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n#dynamic-wrapper {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  background-image: url(\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/032624_sb_space-sugar_feat.jpg?w&#61;800&amp;ssl&#61;1\");\n  background-size: cover;\n  background-position: center center;\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n#dynamic-conversion {\n  padding: 20px;\n  background:rgba(0,0,0, 0.5);\n  color: white;\n}\n\n#dynamic-conversion h2 {\n  color: white;\n}\n\np.has-text-align-center a {\n  color: white !important;\n  text-decoration: none;\n  font-weight: bold;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"dynamic-wrapper\" class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div id=\"dynamic-conversion\" class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>Tell us about your Science News experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Help us improve by taking our 15-question reader survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>So scientists are on the hunt for unknown forces. And Bennu is a particularly suitable target, physicist Yu-Dai Tsai and colleagues realized.\u00a0The asteroid\u2019s trajectory was monitored closely by NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which collected a sample of the asteroid and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/nasa-osiris-rex-sample-weight-bennu-asteroid\">returned it to Earth in 2023<\/a>\u00a0(<em>SN: 2\/15\/24<\/em>). \u201cBennu has been tracked with astonishing accuracy for an extended period of time so that even slight deviations from its predicted path could provide evidence for new physics,\u201d says Tsai, of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In physics, forces go hand in hand with particles that transmit the force. For example, photons, particles of light, mediate electromagnetism. If a fifth force exists, its corresponding particles could play the role of dark matter. The Bennu data allowed scientists to search for a fifth force associated with particles that are very light, perhaps a millionth of a trillionth of an electron volt. (For comparison, an electron has a mass of around 500,000 electron volts.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Measurements of additional asteroids could help scientists broaden the search to cover a range of potential masses. So while returned space rocks from Bennu can tell us about the matter making up objects in our solar system, its trajectory, and that of asteroids like it, could tell us about matter\u2019s dark side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!-- \/.rich-text -->\n\t\t\t\n<footer class=\"article-footer__wrapper___eChRS article-footer__with-sidebar___9oDuK\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"article-footer__feedback___sNXjz\">Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/mailto:feedback@sciencenews.org\">feedback@sciencenews.org<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/permission-republish\">Reprints FAQ<\/a><\/p>\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n<div class=\"author-bio__wrapper___ODe-4\">\n\t\t\t<figure class=\"author-bio__figure___e3jd0\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"author-bio__thumbnail___TixlC\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/author\/emily-conover\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"author-bio__content___F9GU3\">\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"author-bio__bio___jkxvt\">\n\t\t\t<p>Physics writer Emily Conover has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers\u2019 Association Newsbrief award.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.donate-box {\n  border-top: 7px solid red !important;\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-color: #fdfbf2;\n  padding: 20px;\n}\n.from-nature-index__heading___AhgOe {\n  display: none;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<style><![CDATA[\n.from-nature-index__heading___AhgOe {\n    display: none;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div id=\"donateConversion\" class=\"wp-block-group donate-box\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:1.1em\">\nWe are at a critical time and <mark><strong>supporting climate journalism is more important than ever.<\/strong><\/mark> Science News and our parent organization, the Society for Science, need your help to strengthen environmental literacy and ensure that our response to climate change is informed by science.\n \n<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:1.1em\">\nPlease\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/subscribe1-print-digital?key=9MENDTEST&amp;utm_source=end-of-article&amp;utm_medium=site&amp;utm_campaign=non-sub-control\">\nsubscribe to <em>Science News<\/em> and <strong>add $16<\/strong><\/a> to expand\nscience literacy and understanding.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/aside><\/footer>\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/asteroid-bennu-dark-matter\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A hypothetical \u201cfifth force\u201d could tug on asteroids, if it exists. But the asteroid Bennu shows no signs that its orbit has been tweaked by such a force. That sets a\u00a0ceiling on how strong a potential fifth force could be, physicists report September 20 in\u00a0Communications Physics.\u00a0 Scientists know of four forces in the universe: electromagnetism, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/e_conover","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[40959,1070,1866,6776,125164,1069,4027],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160612,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160610\/revisions\/160612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}