Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer detected Scope for Dark Matter in the Space

A group of Scientists on 3 March 2013 announced that the 2 billion dollar, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) placed on the International Space Station (ISS) may have detected the elusive dark matter. The scientists made the announcement after they observed an excess of positrons in the Cosmic Ray Flux, which can be the reason of the presence of elusive dark matter.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer over a period of one and a half year have detected billions of particles and recorded a signal that may be a dark matter.

Before this in the year 2008 using the space-based detector named PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) Satellite. PAMELA was launched into the space in 2006 and is a multinational collaboration of Russia, Italy, Germany and Sweden.

The evidences collected by the AMS supports the existence of Dark Matter in the Universe but it doesn’t rules out the presence of pulsars. Since May 2011, the AMS has identified more than 400000positrons, which is the largest number of positrons measured from the space directly.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
• It is the most powerful and sensitive Spectrometer installed in the space
• It is an antimatter detector placed on the International Space Station and it is basically a giant magnet
• The AMS is designed for studying the cosmic ray particles that floods the space before they get in touch with the earth and its atmosphere

Dark Matter
Dark matter accounts to more than a quarter of Universe mass energy balance. It is believed that the Dark matter holds the universe together. Dark matters don’t emit any light and hence can’t be seen but it communicates with the rest of the universe by its gravity. Few examples of its gravitational power includes, bending of lights around invisible objects and speed of stars orbiting their galaxies that is faster than what it actually should be or can be