Roughly 80 percent of the mass of the universe appears to be dark matter: an invisible material that seems to interact with ordinary matter only through gravity, without emitting light or energy. Scientists cannot detect dark matter directly and don't yet know what it's made of, but they track its influence based on the motions of stars and galaxies. The presence of dark matter is necessary to explain the universe's current structure.
Related Topics: The Big Bang Theory, Black Holes, The Theory of Relativity in Space, Gravitational Waves
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Latest about dark matter
The Milky Way's 2 biggest satellite galaxies are oddly lonely, study finds
The Milky Way's system of small, orbiting satellite galaxies is quite unusual, a new 12-year study of other galaxies in the local universe has found.
Did dark matter help black holes grow to monster sizes in the infant cosmos?
Could dark matter decay have given massive clouds of hydrogen gas the time they needed to birth supermassive black holes seen by the James Webb Space Telescope?
Black hole 'bullets' fired at Mars could reveal more about dark matter
Tiny black hole "bullets" left over from the Big Bang could be passing through Mars at speeds in excess of 7,000 times the speed of sound, causing the Red Planet to "wobble."
AI is on the hunt for dark matter
The secrets of dark matter might be hiding in the immense cosmic crashes that are colliding galaxy clusters.
Dark Energy Camera's new galactic portrait delves into dark-matter central
Located at the confluence of several dark matter filaments in the cosmic web, the Coma Cluster of galaxies is the perfect case study for understanding how these galactic conurbations grow.
How a quantum sensor on the ISS could revolutionize space exploration
Scientists are working on building a quantum sensor that could help us decode dark matter, probe solar system moons and more.
What is dark matter?
Reference Roughly 80% of the mass of the universe is made up of dark matter, a material that scientists cannot directly observe. So why do scientists think it dominates?
Could galaxy cluster collisions be used as dark matter detectors?
Particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider have failed to turn up potential dark matter candidates, but could galaxy cluster smashes be used as cosmic dark matter colliders?
