Dark Matter Black Holes Could Fly through the Solar System Once a Decade

image via New Scientist

September 24, 2024, 11:00 AM

• •Black holes the size of an atom that contain the mass of an asteroid may fly through the inner solar system about once a decade, scientists say.
• •If one of these black holes comes near a planet or large moon, it should push the body off course enough to be measurable by current instruments.
• •Primordial black holes are an increasingly appealing solution to the puzzle of dark matter, an invisible form of mass that physicists think makes up most of the matter in our universe.

Scientists say that atom-sized black holes that contain the mass of an asteroid may fly through the inner solar system about once a decade. These black holes could explain the missing dark matter thought to dominate our universe. If they sneak by the moon or Mars, scientists should be able to detect them.

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