Dark Matter

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.

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Galaxies from a Long Time Ago and Far, Far Away Star in Amazing Hubble View

September 13, 2018 | Article

A remarkable new image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a close-up view of some of the most distant galaxies in the universe.
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Scientists Spot Ancient, Ultra-Fast Wind from the Early Universe

September 06, 2018 | Article

Galaxies use powerful winds to save themselves from early deaths. And researchers just spotted one from just a billion years after the Big Bang.
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How Massive Is the Milky Way?

September 04, 2018 | Article

It's a straightforward question, but not an easy one to answer.
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Physicists, Hunting the 'Dark Photon,' Will Blast a Diamond with Antimatter

September 04, 2018 | Article

A new experiment in Italy will seek an unlikely particle that some scientists think could unlock the "dark sector" of our universe.
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Observations of the Early Universe Reaffirm the Existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

July 18, 2018 | Article

Dark matter and dark energy may be weird and (as of now) inexplicable, but they do seem to exist.
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Remember That Dark-Matter-Free Galaxy? It May Have Dark Matter After All

July 06, 2018 | Article

A galaxy that is supposedly devoid of all dark matter might actually be full of it.
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Super-Sensitive Device Seeks Axions, Proposed Dark Matter Particles

July 02, 2018 | Article

U.S. physicists say they have successfully tested the first experiment sensitive enough to detect axions — hypothetical particles that some scientists think make up the dark matter holding galaxies together.
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Einstein Was Right! Scientists Confirm General Relativity Works With Distant Galaxy

June 21, 2018 | Article

A new study validates Einstein's theory of general relativity in a distant galaxy for the first time.
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Does Dark Matter Have an Electric Charge?

June 01, 2018 | Article

Does dark matter have an electric charge? No one's really wondered before, but researchers are exploring the possibility that some dark matter particles have a small electrical charge.
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Dark Matter Particles Must Be Smaller Than We Thought

June 01, 2018 | Article

In the quest to understand dark matter, scientists have now determined that the effective size of dark matter particles — how strong their interactions with regular matter are — must be smaller than we thought.
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