MW halo very hot at 10 million K

[notFritzArgelander]

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-milky-hot ... omers.html

[ThinkerX]

perhaps the creators of 'Star Trek' were on to something with this episode (though perhaps this would fit the 'dark matter theory of the moment' better)

[pakarinen]

But the trick is that hot does not mean hot and dense.

[ThinkerX]

well, what intrigued me with the clip was the commentary by Spock (paraphrased)

'Deflectors say something is there' - presumably some for of matter or energy, much like Dark Matter's effects are obvious because of gravitational distortion.

'Sensors say nothing is there' - which reminded me of the growing list of failed efforts to identify Dark Matter.

It's almost like the writers were attempting to describe Dark Matter, yet I am uncertain if the theory even existed at the time the episode was filmed.

Then again, it's Hollywood, so...

[notFritzArgelander]

well, what intrigued me with the clip was the commentary by Spock (paraphrased)

'Deflectors say something is there' - presumably some for of matter or energy, much like Dark Matter's effects are obvious because of gravitational distortion.

'Sensors say nothing is there' - which reminded me of the growing list of failed efforts to identify Dark Matter.

It's almost like the writers were attempting to describe Dark Matter, yet I am uncertain if the theory even existed at the time the episode was filmed.

Then again, it's Hollywood, so...

Yeah... There are differences though. The barrier Spock detects is at the "edge" of the galaxy, but galaxies have no well defined edges. Also DM is everywhere and extends beyond the luminous halo in a more extensive DM halo.

The first form of Dark Matter we detected in a lab was neutrinos. It took many decades to secure a detection in a lab.Will it take many centuries to find DM?

I don't know... There is also the dreadful possibility that the cross section for interaction is so low that any signal would be swamped by the signal from cosmic background neutrinos. If that is the case we're stuck and I cannot envision a successful lab detection.