13.8 billion year old "ghost" penetrates the solar system

(NLĐO) - Objects born in the first second after the Big Bang may have just grazed and shaken planets in the Solar System.

According to Science Alert, a research team led by astrophysicist Tung Tran from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has just shown that every 10 years, our solar system welcomes an uninvited, invisible, and frightening guest that is over 13.8 billion years old.

These are primordial black holes (PBHs), hypothetical objects that may have been born in the first second after the Big Bang, the event that gave birth to the universe.

Primordial black holes may have repeatedly streaked across the solar system, causing planets to wobble, especially Mars - Illustration by AI: ANH THƯ

Primordial black holes formed from pockets of densely packed ionized matter collapsing and scattering throughout the universe over the past 13.8 billion years.

According to MIT researchers, they weigh as much as an asteroid despite being only the size of a single atom.

However, these tiny monsters are still capable of shaking the planets in the solar system with their speeds of up to 200 km/second and the power of a black hole.

According to a paper published in the scientific journal Physical Review D , the research team simulated the possible effects if a primordial black hole were to fly past Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

It's powerful enough to shake all these planets, but Mars would give the clearest signal, as it's also the planet Earthlings can most easily track.

If a black hole of this type were to approach Mars within about 450 million kilometers, it would cause detectable oscillations in the planet's orbit.

This shift is only about 1 meter over 10 years, but it's enough for sensors to detect, since we can measure the distance from Mars to Earth with an accuracy of about 10 cm.

They also considered the possibility of a primordial black hole approaching the Earth-Moon system, but the effects were not very clear.

"There are many other forces in the solar system that could act as a kind of friction, causing the oscillations to gradually decrease," the authors explain.

Therefore, humanity can rest assured and focus its attention on Mars to detect any uninvited guests, which could contribute to our understanding of dark matter – a substance abundant throughout the universe but also incredibly mysterious.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bong-ma-138-ti-tuoi-xuyen-thung-he-mat-troi-196240928080657122.htm