Contrary to the dark world that scientists had anticipated New Horizons would encounter, the highly sensitive instruments aboard NASA’s spacecraft found themselves face-to-face with an illuminated “surplus” world, illuminated by something incredibly mysterious and peculiar.
Specifically, New Horizons’ long-range reconnaissance imaging device, LORRI, captured incredibly faint light, as if emerging from the void of interstellar space.
According to Science Alert, some light in this region, known as the “cosmic optical background,” is expected to exist and represents the dim glow of bright objects outside the Solar System. However, the strange thing is that New Horizons detected twice the amount of light that should have been present there.
The New Horizons spacecraft and its original destination were Pluto, the Dwarf Planet. However, it has long surpassed this objective and is now preparing to venture into interstellar space, beyond the stars. Image: NASA.
A recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters suggests that this excess light could potentially come from one of the most enigmatic entities in the universe: dark matter.
Dark matter is believed to account for a staggering 80% of the universe but remains invisible due to its inherent darkness. However, the research team led by astrophysicist José Luis Bernal from Johns Hopkins University has indicated that interactions involving dark matter could generate discernible light, precisely the excess light observed by New Horizons.
They have developed mathematical models and identified that a hypothetical form of dark matter called axions could be responsible for this phenomenon.
This interaction also generates extremely subtle and challenging-to-detect energy, but scientists are hopeful that once they find the right approach, they can precisely target New Horizons’ highly sensitive ultraviolet instruments to validate this hypothesis with more specific signals.
NASA also has a pair of spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, which have ventured even farther than New Horizons, but perhaps due to their more outdated equipment compared to the relatively “young” spacecraft, they have not made the same discovery.
NASA and astronomers worldwide are eagerly awaiting new discoveries from New Horizons as it gradually escapes the final frontiers of the Solar System and explores deep space using its ultra-sensitive instruments.