Scientists explain how to spot a wormhole connecting parts of the universe together – if they exist

Mysterious phenomena could be a connection to an entirely different universe

Andrew Griffin
Friday 25 October 2019 14:03 BST
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An image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory our galaxy's centre, with its supermassive black hole at the middle
An image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory our galaxy's centre, with its supermassive black hole at the middle

Scientists have revealed how to spot a wormhole to another universe.

Wormholes serve as a tunnel between two parts of spacetime, potentially connecting up two different times or places within the universe – or another universe entirely.

They might still not actually exist. Despite occupying such an important place in science fiction, as well as being the subject of feverish research by scientists, they are yet to be confirmed.

But if they do exist, astronomers have proposed a way that we might be able to see them.

Researchers hope that they might be able to spot a wormhole around the supermassive black hole at the middle of our Milky Way galaxy, which is known as Sagittarius A*. There is no specific reason to think the black hole has one – but researchers think that the extreme and turbulent gravitational conditions of a supermassive black hole should be a good place to find one.

If there is one lurking at the heart of our galaxy, the stars in our galaxy should be influenced by the gravity of stars at the other end of the wormhole, the researchers suggest. That should make it possible to see one, if indirectly, by looking for the slight deviations in the orbits of the nearby stars.

"If you have two stars, one on each side of the wormhole, the star on our side should feel the gravitational influence of the star that's on the other side. The gravitational flux will go through the wormhole," said Dejan Stojkovic, cosmologist and professor of physics in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. "So if you map the expected orbit of a star around Sagittarius A*, you should see deviations from that orbit if there is a wormhole there with a star on the other side."

Sadly, even if there is a wormhole relatively nearby it will not be possible to travel through it and find yourself elsewhere in the universe, scientists say.

"Even if a wormhole is traversable, people and spaceships most likely aren't going to be passing through," said Dr Stojkovic. "Realistically, you would need a source of negative energy to keep the wormhole open, and we don't know how to do that. To create a huge wormhole that's stable, you need some magic."

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