Dark matter, the elusive search: Latest discoveries and news
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
X-rays reveal secret gas in huge and distant galaxy cluster
By Keith Cooper published
The Euclid and XMM-Newton missions have combined to show the hidden, hot gas that fills an immense galaxy cluster 2.7 billion light-years away.
Rapidly spinning dead stars could unveil dark matter secrets
By Robert Lea published
"Cosmic lighthouses" comprised of rapidly spinning dead stars that blast out radiowaves could be used to shed new light on dark matter, the universe's most mysterious "stuff."
In a way, Space.com and the dark universe grew up together
By Robert Lea published
The concept of dark energy came about just around the time Space.com booted up.
Hubble Telescope tracks a dwarf galaxy's stars to map out dark matter
By Keith Cooper published
By measuring the motions of stars in the Draco dwarf galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to map the density profile of dark matter.
Astronomers could use a synthetic cosmos to unravel dark matter mysteries
By Robert Lea published
A simulated universe created by a supercomputer should help astronomers better analyze dark matter and dark energy clues delivered by "dark universe detective" telescopes Roman and Rubin.
Astronomers measure 'warp speed' of Milky Way galaxy
By Keith Cooper published
The Milky Way is warped, and the alignment of this warp is precessing backwards around the galaxy under the influence of a squashed dark matter halo.
Scientists tap into 2 new quantum methods to catch dark matter suspects
By Robert Lea published
Scientists will cool two pieces of quantum tech to a thousandth of a degree above absolute zero to hunt for two different dark matter suspects.
Earth's upper atmosphere could hold a missing piece of the universe, new study hints
By Paul Sutter published
Mysterious dark matter could slosh over our planet like a wave. If it does, it may produce telltale radio waves in Earth's atmosphere, new theoretical research suggests.
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