SCIPP postdoctoral fellow, Sarah Geller, has co-authored a new study on primordial black holes. Theorists conceive that primordial black holes exert a gravitational force, which could account for at least some portion of dark matter in the universe. It is understood that primordial black holes do not “live” in our solar system, instead they travel through the universe, occasionally passing through the inner solar system.

Researchers found it challenging to attribute certain impacts on the Earth or the moon to the passing through of a specific primordial black hole, so, to directly observe the effects of this phenomena, they turned to Mars. It was found that a primordial black hole, passing within a few hundred million miles of Mars, would cause a “wobble” in Mars’ orbit, slightly deviating it from its typical path. At this point, researchers involved in this study are looking forward to further studies of this topic, hoping to implement more advanced simulations and technology.

To learn more about this study and its implications check out the articles from the UCSC Newscenter and ScienceNews, or read the original study here.