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
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Perched high in Chile's Andes, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory sees a breathtaking view of the Milky Way's southern arc.
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The discovery of what is potentially the smallest clump of dark matter ever seen strengthens the case for cold dark matter.
Information could be a fundamental part of the universe – and may explain dark energy and dark matter
An academic dives into using quantum physics to explore dark matter.
JWST compares gravitational lensing | Space photo of the day for Oct. 10, 2025
A compilation of various images from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the effects of gravitational lensing caused by dark matter.
The largest-ever simulation of the universe has just been released
The team behind Europe's Euclid space telescope just published the world's most extensive simulation of the universe, which maps an astonishing 3.4 billion galaxies.
