Mini black holes, formed in the early universe, may have impacted the Moon to the extent of altering the surrounding material.
Image of the Moon as seen from Earth, according to data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). Photo: NASA/GSFC/University of Arizona.
The Moon could be riddled with craters from collisions with mini black holes, and studying them could reveal valuable insights into dark matter, as reported by Futurism on November 22. The new research has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Researchers believe that a series of atomic-sized black holes formed shortly after the Big Bang. As these super-dense objects moved through space, they started spreading out and eventually fell into the solar system, subsequently crashing into the Moon.
Mini black holes could also collide with other celestial bodies, including Earth. However, the Moon’s thin atmosphere doesn’t protect it from impacts as effectively as the blue planet does.
“In principle, the Moon isn’t special. We talk about the Moon because it’s something humans have looked into. Some of Jupiter’s moons, Saturn’s moons, and Neptune’s moons are also promising candidates,” noted Almog Yalinewich, a physicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada and a co-author of the research.
The traces left behind by mini black holes could help experts gain a deeper understanding of dark matter, the mysterious substance believed to constitute a significant portion of the universe’s matter. Some scientists speculate that dark matter may originate from black holes formed due to density fluctuations in the early universe.
Therefore, if mini black holes from the early universe collided with the Moon, they could have left traces of dark matter and altered the properties of the surrounding materials. These black holes have an extremely strong gravitational effect, which could have impacted the Moon to the extent of altering the characteristics of the surrounding materials. Nuclear bombs have been known to achieve similar results, transforming sand around the explosion site into glass.
The research team believes that future lunar missions, such as NASA’s Artemis program, could help in the search and study of craters left by mini black holes, shedding light on the nature of enigmatic dark matter.
(Source: Futurism)