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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.

Related Topics: The Big Bang Theory, Black Holes, The Theory of Relativity in Space, Gravitational Waves

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In a new study, researchers determined that matter makes up about 31% of the total amount of matter and energy in the universe. Cosmologists believe about 20% of the total matter is made of regular (or baryonic) matter, which includes stars, galaxies, atoms and life, while about 80% is made of dark matter, whose mysterious nature is not yet known but may consist of some as-yet-undiscovered subatomic particle.

Scientists nail down the total amount of matter in the universe

By Mike Wall

Scientists have conducted a new cosmos-wide matter census, finding that the stuff makes up 31% of our universe.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of MACS J1206, one of the galaxy clusters analyzed in new research, showing light distortions caused by dark matter.

Hubble telescope observations highlight dark matter's weirdness

By Meghan Bartels

Once again, scientists have realized that when it comes to dark matter, they are missing a piece or two of the puzzle.

The complete focal plane of the future LSST Camera is more than 2 feet wide and contains 189 individual sensors that will produce 3,200-megapixel images.

3,200 megapixels! The camera heart of future Vera Rubin Observatory snaps record-breaking 1st photos

By Mike Wall

The imaging sensors for the future Vera C. Rubin Observatory have taken their record-breaking first photos.

A map of the sky shows the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), a remnant of the period of the early universe when this lost dark matter might have existed.

A long-lost type of dark matter may resolve the biggest disagreement in physics

By Rafi Letzter

Right now, key measurements of the universe's expansion are contradicting each other. A lost form of dark matter could help them agree.

A Hubble Space Telescope image shows the Lagoon Nebula, part of the small portion of matter in the Milky Way that isn't made of dark matter.

A huge cloud of invisible particles seems to be missing from the Milky Way

By Rafi Letzter

A key signal for a certain kind of dark matter failed to turn up in a search throughout the Milky Way. Now scientists are disagreeing about what that means.

Scientists think that dark matter produces a bright and spherical halo of X-ray emission around the center of the Milky Way.

Scientists use the Milky Way to hunt for dark matter

By Chelsea Gohd

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search is one of the most sensitive efforts to track down dark matter particles. But the best dark-matter detector may be Earth itself, a new study suggests.

Hunting for dark matter — inside the Earth

By Paul Sutter

The answer to the dark-matter mystery may be under our feet.

A reconstruction of the filaments of the cosmic web that connect galaxies in the universe. Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Hubble Space Telescope, researchers applied an algorithm used to simulate the growth patterns of a slime mold on Earth to better model the structure of the universe's cosmic web.

Slime mold models help astronomers map filaments of the cosmic web

By Samantha Mathewson

Earthly slime mold models have helped astronomers map the cosmic web that connects galaxies throughout the universe.

A ghostly ring of dark matter floating in the galaxy cluster ZwCl0024+1652, one of the strongest pieces of evidence to date for the existence of dark matter. Astronomers think the dark-matter ring was produced from a collision between two gigantic clusters.

Did this newfound particle form the universe's dark matter?

By Chelsea Gohd

Researchers think that a newly identified subatomic particle may have formed the universe's dark matter right after the Big Bang, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.

This glowing red map shows the universe as seen in high-energy gamma rays.

Self-destructing dark matter may be flooding the sky with gamma-rays, study suggests

By Brandon Specktor

There's a faint gamma-ray background in the universe, and scientists now think it could be caused by dark matter.

The galaxy cluster Abell 1689 is famous for the way it bends light in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Study of the cluster has revealed secrets about how dark energy shapes the universe.

The problems with modern physics

By Paul Sutter

Physicists have certainly achieved a lot, but many mysteries about the universe remain.

These Hubble Space Telescope images include reveals four distorted images of a background quasar and its host galaxy surrounding the central core of a foreground massive galaxy. Using the effects of gravity within this system, researchers were able to indirectly detect dark matter and find clumps of "cold dark matter" smaller than any similar clumps ever detected.

Dark Matter Can Form Tiny, Cold 'Clumps.' Scientists Have Found the Smallest Ones Yet.

By Chelsea Gohd

It turns out that dark matter forms smaller "clumps" than scientists thought, confirming a fundamental prediction about the mysterious substance.

A photo of astronomer Vera Rubin.

It's Official: Vera Rubin Observatory Named to Honor Dark Matter Scientist

By Meghan Bartels

A U.S. facility — designed in part to solve the mysteries of dark matter — now officially carries the name of the scientist who concluded that the elusive substance must exist.

A panoramic image shows the Milky Way, our home galaxy.

19 Galaxies Are Apparently Missing Dark Matter. No One Knows Why.

By Rafi Letzter

Nineteen newly discovered dwarf galaxies seem to be missing their dark matter, and physicists aren't sure why.

The researchers simulated early galaxy formation in the early universe under three dark matter scenarios: a universe filled with cold dark matter (far left); warm dark matter (center); and fuzzy dark matter (far right).

Physicists Have Finally Seen Traces of a Long-Sought Particle. Here's Why That's a Big Deal.

By Meredith Fore

It was predicted four decades ago, but only found now.

Astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a Nov. 15, 2019 spacewalk with NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan to begin repairs on a $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument on the International Space Station.

Astronauts Begin Complex Spacewalk Marathon to Fix Ailing Cosmic Ray Detector

By Robert Z. Pearlman

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano work inside the Quest airlock to check their spacesuits and tools before beginning a series of spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Astronauts Are Taking a Tricky Spacewalk to Fix a Dark Matter Experiment. Here's How to Watch

By Tariq Malik

A photo of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment outside the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Ron Garan took this photo during a spacewalk on July 12, 2011. The space shuttle Atlantis is docked at the edge of the frame on the far right, and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is docked to Pirs, below the sun.

Astronauts Will Take 4 of the Most Challenging Spacewalks Ever to Fix a Dark Matter Experiment

By Hanneke Weitering

Two astronauts are gearing up for what may be the most challenging spacewalks in history.

Each of DESI's fiber optic "eyes" can collect light from a single object, such as a part of a galaxy. The instrument then splits that light into different colors to figure out what it might be composed of and how far away that object is. This test spectrum was gathered by DESI on Oct. 22. A single fiber-optic cable (red dot) scans a region of the Triangulum galaxy and splits the light it gathers into a spectrum.

5,000 Mini-Eyes Just Blinked Open to Scan the Skies for Dark Energy

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

Astronomers recently completed the first test run of the nearly-complete Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

This eROSITA image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, our galactic neighbor. The image was created with exposures from all seven of the telescope's mirror modules; the pictures were taken between Oct. 18 and 19.

German X-Ray Telescope Takes First Images of Universe. Here They Are!

By Chelsea Gohd

The first images from a dark-energy-hunting telescope have been revealed, and they're spectacular.