cow can we be certain of the existence of dark matter when none of our instruments can detect it?

First
of all, scientists are not certain it exists. dark matter is one of the few theories that is being used to
explain the problem of "missing mass" in observed galaxies. It might be worth noting that mass is not
weight in the way we usually describe it here on Earth. Mass is the quantity of matter an objects consists
of. Weight is the effect gravity has on it. Also, "missing mass" is not a very accurate description of dark
matter, as whatever is causing the effects on nearby objects is there - we just can't see it! Since, by
nature, dark matter is not detectable with conventional technology due to it's inability to emit radiation
or light , astronomers look at the behaviour of objects near the dark matter.

One of the first "observations" of dark matter was done by Fritz Zwicky, a Swiss astrophysicist. In 1933
Zwicky was studying the motions of faraway galaxies. At first Zwicky estimated the mass of the observed
galaxies by measuring their brightness. He then used a different computation method to determine the
mass. To his surprise the result was 400 times larger than his initial method. Sadly, Zwicky's research
results were not used until the 70's of the 20th century - losing decades of potential research in this
field. Scientists realized that Zwicky's observations could explain some of their own. Today , dark matter
is being taken seriously.

Astronomers now believe that over 20% of our universe is made up of what we call "dark matter", and
another 73% of dark energy. Oh and the stuff we are familiar with and can actually look at only takes up
4% of the universe. Our universe is dominated by dark matter and dark energy, whatever they may be.
You can imagine that there is still plenty of work left for scientists in unraveling the secrets of the
universe. Established theories will have to be modified and new theories will be introduced to take into
account all of the unknown matter out there.

Recently (2006) British researchers from the University of Cambridge made some interesting
discoveries. Their calculations show that dark matter particles are moving at an amazing speed of 9
kilometers per second. That is 540 kilometers per minute, or 32400 km per hour, a lot faster than
previously thought. The researchers have also been able to determine the temperate of dark matter,
10,000 °C. Not exactly the
hottest stuff out there, but perhaps enough to reconsider the name "cold dark matter" used by some
scientists.

Please use the links on your right to navigate through this site. Look down for some interesting links
to recent news articles related to dark matter.