Mon Feb 24 10:04:57 UTC 2025: ## Indian Astrophysicist Highlights Universe’s Mysteries: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Black Holes

**Leh, Ladakh/New Delhi, India** – In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Indian-origin astrophysicist Professor Priyamvada Natarajan shed light on the universe’s biggest enigmas: dark matter, dark energy, and black holes. She emphasized the vast unknown, stating that only 4% of the universe is composed of known matter, while a staggering 26% is dark matter and 70% is dark energy.

Professor Natarajan explained that dark energy is believed to be responsible for the universe’s accelerating expansion, a discovery made in 1998. Dark matter, described as elusive and invisible, permeates galaxies and is thought to be composed of particles created in the early universe, but its properties remain largely unknown. The challenge lies in their lack of interaction with light, the primary tool scientists use to study the cosmos.

India is actively contributing to unraveling these mysteries. The Jaduguda Underground Science Laboratory (JUSL) in Jharkhand and a gamma-ray telescope in Hanle, Ladakh, are searching for signs of dark matter through its potential self-interaction, which could produce detectable gamma rays.

Professor Natarajan also discussed black holes, regions with such intense gravity that not even light can escape. She vividly illustrated the dangers, explaining that even a close approach would result in spaghettification due to the immense gravitational difference between one’s head and feet.

While initially believed to form from the remnants of massive stars, scientists have discovered supermassive black holes billions of times the mass of the sun at the centers of galaxies. Professor Natarajan’s work on direct collapse black holes, which form directly from massive gas clouds, has contributed significantly to our understanding of these phenomena. The Hanle telescope can detect black holes by observing the gamma rays emitted from matter expelled by them.

Finally, Professor Natarajan highlighted the role of gravitational waves, tremors in space-time caused by colliding black holes, and the contribution of projects like LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) in their detection and localization. She stressed the importance of increased Indian participation in large international surveys to further advance our knowledge of the universe.

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