<h2>Eyes Peeled</h2>
<p>When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) turns back on and starts smashing particles again sometime in 2021, it may also point us in the direction of dark matter.</p>
<p>For years, scientists have been <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-conflicting-results">trying and failing</a> to spot the invisible stuff that makes up the majority of matter in the universe. But now researchers have a new target: a comparatively heavy and long-lived particle that may be produced by the high-energy collisions at the LHC.</p>
<p>The particle is thought by some physicists to occasionally interact with dark matter — giving scientists a new lead toward spotting the elusive material.</p>
<h2>Dangling Particle</h2>
<p>Research <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.131801">published this month</a> in <em>Physical Review Letters</em> describes how systems that have already been put in place at the LHC could detect these long-lived particles, which are named as such because they travel slower and last longer than other particles generated by LHC experiments.</p>
<p>The time difference is on the scale of nanoseconds, according to a University of Chicago <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-04-scientists-mysterious-dark-world-particle.html">press release</a> — something that the LHC was already able to detect and will be even better at once upgrades are completed.</p>
<p>&#8220;If the particle is there, we just have to find a way to dig it out,&#8221; University of Chicago physicist LianTao Wang said in the press release. &#8220;Usually, the key is finding the question to ask.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-04-scientists-mysterious-dark-world-particle.html">Scientists invent way to trap mysterious &#8216;dark world&#8217; particle at Large Hadron Collider</a> [University of Chicago newsroom via <em>Phys.org</em>]</p>
<p><strong>More on dark matter:</strong> <em><a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter">An Oxford Scientist May Have Solved the Mystery of Dark Matter</a></em></p>


"Usually, the key is finding the question to ask."

When the Large Hadron Collider turns on, it may trap dark matter

Spotted

Scientists have a new plan to try and spot dark matter by searching for particular particles once the Large Hadron Collider's upgrades are complete.

When the Large Hadron Collider Turns on, It May Trap Dark Matter

Physicists are getting ready to look for a new, slow-moving particle.

<h2>Do You Wanna Build a Snowball Chamber?</h2>
<p>It&#8217;s not often that physicists take inspiration from Disney musicals when designing new experiments, but a team hell-bent on detecting dark matter says it did just that.</p>
<p>To find dark matter — that&#8217;s the elusive, invisible <em>stuff</em> that makes up most of the matter in the universe — scientists have <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-conflicting-results">built gigantic apparatuses</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-worlds-most-sensitive-dark-matter-detector-just-found-nothing">probed deep underground</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/virus-bead-find-dark-matter">tiny floating beads</a>. Now, apparently, they&#8217;re turning to kids&#8217; movies as well.</p>
<p>Matthew Szydagis, a researcher at SUNY Albany, was compelled to investigate the properties of supercooled water after watching YouTube videos of people playing around with it, according to a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-04-snowball-chamber-supercooled-dark.html">press release</a> by the American Physical Society, &#8220;especially when he saw it again during the Disney movie &#8216;Frozen.'&#8221;</p>
<h2>The Cold Of Space Never Bothered Me Anyway</h2>
<p>The idea is to look for particle-sized bits of ice in small bubbles of supercooled water.</p>
<p>&#8220;All of my work is motivated by the search for dark matter, a form of matter we&#8217;re sure is out there because we can observe its indirect gravitational effects,&#8221; Szydagis said in the press release. &#8220;It makes up a significant fraction of the universe, but we have yet to uncover direct, conclusive and unambiguous evidence of it within the lab.&#8221;</p>
<p>Szydagis is looking for dark matter using supercooled water, which can be kept as a liquid beneath water&#8217;s usual freezing temperature as long as it&#8217;s in a vacuum-sealed container. He presented his work, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.09253">first shared online</a> last year, at an <a href="http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/J09.8">American Physical Society meeting</a> on Sunday.</p>
<h2>Subatomic Particles Are Worth Melting For</h2>
<p>In particular, Szydagis&#8217; team learned that neutrons cause supercooled water to freeze when they collide with it, leading the scientists to speculate that they may have a new way to detect dark matter, which is thought to share similarities with neutrons.</p>
<p>They haven’t spotted any dark matter yet, as their particular research was only intended to show that a supercooled water chamber could work as a subatomic particle detector at all. But future projects may use their design in a real search for the stuff.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-04-snowball-chamber-supercooled-dark.html">&#8216;Snowball chamber&#8217; helps researchers use supercooled water to search for dark matter</a> [American Physical Society via <em>Phys.org</em>]</p>
<p><strong>More on dark matter: </strong><em><a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter">An Oxford Scientist May Have Solved the Mystery of Dark Matter</a></em></p>


Dark matter may trigger chambers of supercooled water to freeze.

Disney's "Frozen" inspired new attempt to find dark matter

Fellow Kids

Inspired by "Frozen," scientists built an apparatus that detects subatomic particles when they collide with supercooled water. It may help spot dark matter.

Disney’s “Frozen” Inspired New Attempt to Find Dark Matter

Let It Go: Dark matter may trigger supercooled water to freeze.

<h2>Dad Bod</h2>
<p>NASA performed a new measurement of the mass of the Milky Way galaxy using the Hubble and Gaia space telescopes. Not only do the new measurements show that our home galaxy is bigger than many of its peers, but also that the overwhelming majority of that weight is invisible dark matter — opening up tantalizing mysteries about what comprises the portions of the Milky Way we can&#8217;t see.</p>
<p>&#8220;The new mass estimate puts our galaxy on the beefier side, compared to other galaxies in the universe,&#8221; reads a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/what-does-the-milky-way-weigh-hubble-and-gaia-investigate">NASA blog post</a> about the research.</p>
<h2>Star Weight</h2>
<p>According to NASA&#8217;s new measurements, the Milky Way weighs in at about 1.5 trillion stellar masses, meaning it has 1.5 trillion times the weight of the Earth&#8217;s Sun.</p>
<p>The Milky way only has about 200 billion stars — plus a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/black-hole-milky-way">black hole at its heart</a> that weighs as much as about another four million stars — which accounts for only about 13 percent of its mass.</p>
<h2>Dark Matter</h2>
<p>That means much of the rest of the Milky Way&#8217;s mass is something we can&#8217;t see — likely a mysterious substance physicists call dark matter.</p>
<p>&#8220;Most of the rest of the mass is locked up in dark matter, an invisible and mysterious substance that acts like scaffolding throughout the universe and keeps the stars in their galaxies,&#8221; reads the NASA blog post.</p>
<div>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/what-does-the-milky-way-weigh-hubble-and-gaia-investigate">What Does the Milky Way Weigh? Hubble and Gaia Investigate</a> [NASA]</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><strong>More on the Milky Way: </strong><em><a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/stellar-stream-milky-way">Scientists Found a “River of Stars” Flowing Through the Milky Way</a></em></p>
</div>


"The new mass estimate puts our galaxy on the beefier side, compared to other galaxies in the universe."

New NASA measurements: Milky Way galaxy is "on the beefier side"

Galaxy Quest

New data collected by NASA, using two space telescopes, shows that the vast majority of our galaxy's mass is dark matter.

New NASA Measurements: Milky Way Galaxy Is “On the Beefier Side”

New data shows that the vast majority of our galaxy's mass is dark matter.

<h2>Mass Effect</h2>
<p>For many years, astrophysicists have theorized that an invisible material they call &#8220;dark matter&#8221; makes up the majority of the universe&#8217;s mass. Any behavior of objects in the universe that can&#8217;t be explained by ordinary mass — such as how galaxies rotate in space — could be due to the gravitational effects dark matter.</p>
<p>But now, a <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/7645_ENG_HTML.php">bold new theory</a> from European researchers suggests a startling alternative: the strange behavior of galaxies could be due to the combined mass of untold zillions of photons, each of which has just a tiny bit of mass.</p>
<h2>Photon Calling</h2>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that photons <a href="http://www.desy.de/user/projects/Physics/Relativity/SR/light_mass.html">have zero mass</a> (although that claim <a href="http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ParticleAndNuclear/photon_mass.html">is complicated</a>). But if each one had just a &#8220;vanishingly tiny&#8221; mass, according to a <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/7645_ENG_HTML.php">new paper</a> published in <em>The Astrophysical Journal</em>, the combined effect could explain large-scale cosmic phenomena, including the rotation of galaxies.</p>
<p>&#8220;By assuming a certain photon mass, much smaller than the current upper limit, we can show that this mass would be sufficient to generate additional forces in a galaxy and that these forces would be roughly large enough to explain the rotation curves,&#8221; researcher Dmitry Budker, a professor at the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, said in a <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/7645_ENG_HTML.php">press release</a>. &#8220;This conclusion is extremely exciting.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Dark Matter</h2>
<p>According to Budker and his colleag<strong>u</strong>es, the mind-bending new theory could partially explain the effects physicists conventionally attribute to dark matter — or even &#8220;completely eliminate the need&#8221; for dark matter to explain some phenomena.</p>
<p>&#8220;We don’t currently consider photon mass to be the solution to the rotation-curve problem. But it could be part of the solution,&#8221; Budker said in the press release. &#8220;However, we need to keep an open mind as long as we do not actually know what dark matter is.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="http://www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/7645_ENG_HTML.php">Physicists analyze the rotational dynamics of galaxies and the influence of the mass of the photon</a> [Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz]</p>
<p><strong>More on dark matter: </strong><a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter"><em>An Oxford Scientist May Have Solved the Mystery of Dark Matter</em></a></p>


New theory: mass of photons could explain effects of dark matter

Photon Finish

Researchers believe the strange behavior of galaxies could be caused by the combined mass of untold zillions of photons and not dark matter.

New Theory: Mass of Photons Could Explain Effects of Dark Matter

If each photon had just a tiny bit of mass, it could upend the theory of dark matter.

<h2>Dark Matter</h2>
<p>Scientists have created a vast new map that explores how structures of dark matter have grown during the life of the universe — and they claim it could upend the current understanding of physics.</p>
<p>&#8220;If further data shows we&#8217;re definitely right, then it suggests something is missing from our current understanding of the Standard Model and the general theory of relativity,&#8221; Kavli Institute physicist Chiaki Hikage said in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-historical-dark.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>.</p>
<h2>Current Model</h2>
<p>Hikage and colleagues analyzed images of 10 million galaxies taken with the 870 megapixel Subaru telescope in Hawaii.</p>
<p>The light from some of the galaxies traveled for billions of years to reach Earth, which let the researchers assemble a map of dark matter starting in the universe&#8217;s early days — they just had to look at how its gravitational force bent the light.</p>
<p>What they found was surprising. The new map, <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.09148" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published on</a> the preprint server <em>arXiv</em>, suggests that the huge structure of dark matter in the universe formed more slowly that previously believed — results that &#8220;appear to challenge current understanding of the fundamental laws of physics,&#8221; according to the press release.</p>
<h2>Road Ahead</h2>
<p>But before physicists throw out the rulebook, Hikage cautioned that the new map needs to be corroborated.</p>
<p>&#8220;With a little more work, if we can get better accuracy, we might be able to find something concrete,&#8221; he said in the press release. &#8220;This is a big motivating factor for me.&#8221;</p>
<div>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-historical-dark.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mapping Historical Changes in Dark Matter</a> [<em>Phys.org</em>]</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><em><strong>More on dark matter: </strong><a href="https://futurism.com/virus-bead-find-dark-matter">A Floating, Virus-Sized Bead Could Help Find Dark Matter</a></em></p>
</div>


Before physicists throw out the rulebook, though, the new map needs to be corroborated.

New map of dark matter breaks scientists' understanding of physics

Think Again

Scientists say a new map of how structures of dark matter have grown throughout the life of the universe could upend current understanding of physics.

New Map of Dark Matter Breaks Scientists’ Understanding of Physics

"The results appear to challenge current understanding of the fundamental laws of physics."

<h2>Sensitive Measurements</h2>
<p>Forget high-tech underground facilities spanning miles and miles — the sensor that finally detects dark matter might rest on a three-foot-long table.</p>
<p>Physicists at Barcelona, Spain&#8217;s Institute of Photonic Sciences recently built a new molecular scale. It&#8217;s a virus-sized bead that floats in a tiny vacuum chamber, held aloft by a focused infrared laser beam. And they say that it could be the key to detecting high-frequency waves and even dark matter, the elusive and invisible substance that makes up 85 percent of all matter in the universe, according to a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/a-levitating-glass-bead-probes-the-universes-mysteries/">new <em>WIRED </em>feature</a>.</p>
<h2>Let&#8217;s Dive In</h2>
<p>The actual science gets circuitous, so bear with us for a moment. Research <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.11645.pdf">published on the preprint server ArXiv</a> last week described how the bead can reliably and consistently measure objects as small as an individual molecule with considerably less error than existing molecular scales.</p>
<p>When an object such as a molecule is attached to the floating bead, the physicists can perturb it with a tiny force and determine the mass of the object by looking at how fast the bead oscillates, like a tiny metronome.</p>
<p>Currently, the scientists who invented the scale are <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.101101">working on experiments</a> to unravel the mysteries of how gravity works by measuring the minute gravitational forces that the bead and a nearby sliver of gold exert on each other, according to <em>WIRED</em>. The team also hopes to use its floating bead system to detect high-frequency gravitational waves, which the scientists believe would cause the laser suspending the bead to bend out of shape.</p>
<h2>Still With Us?</h2>
<p>It&#8217;s that type of wave that would help physicists <a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter">spot dark matter</a>, something that so far no one has been able to do. That&#8217;s because the waves are caused when a theoretical dark matter particle called an axion runs into the powerful forces given off by a black hole, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/for-dark-matter-hunters-out-there-theories-are-catching-on/">according to a different <em>WIRED </em>story</a>.</p>
<p>Whether or not the minuscule glass bead is up to the task of finally providing us with direct evidence of dark matter is yet to be determined. But in the meantime, it shows that scientists are actively coming up with original ideas that are wildly different from the warehouse-sized detectors usually tasked with the search for dark matter.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/a-levitating-glass-bead-probes-the-universes-mysteries/">A LEVITATING GLASS BEAD PROBES THE UNIVERSE’S MYSTERIES</a> [<em>WIRED</em>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on dark matter: <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-conflicting-results">Two Nearly-Identical Dark Matter Studies Have Conflicting Results</a></em></strong></p>


It's the most precise way to measure quantum gravitational forces to date.

A floating, virus-sized bead could help find dark matter

Tiny Metronome

A small, levitating glass bead the size of a virus might be the long-awaited key to directly observing dark matter, if new research is to be believed.

A Floating, Virus-Sized Bead Could Help Find Dark Matter

An ingenious tabletop instrument might be able to spot dark matter.

<h2>Mirror Image</h2>
<p>The Big Bang didn&#8217;t just result in our familiar universe, according to a mind-bending new theory — it also generated a second &#8220;anti-universe&#8221; that extended backwards in time, like a mirror image of our own.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/our-universe-has-antimatter-partner-on-the-other-side-of-the-big-bang-say-physicists/">new story</a> in <em>Physics World</em> explores the new theory, which was proposed by a trio of Canadian physicists who say that it could explain the existence of dark matter.</p>
<h2>Anti-Universe</h2>
<p>The new theory, which is laid out in a <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.251301">recent paper</a> in the journal <em>Physical Review of Letters</em>, aims to preserve a rule of physics called CPT symmetry. In the anti-universe before the Big Bang, it suggests, time ran backwards and the cosmos were made of antimatter instead of matter.</p>
<p>This new theory is compelling, according to a <a href="https://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.251301">news release</a> about the new theory, because it would mean that the universe is filled with &#8220;very massive sterile neutrinos&#8221; that could explain dark matter, a mysterious material that is <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/dark-matter-smoking-gun-dwarf-galaxies">believed to make up much of the universe</a>.</p>
<h2>New Particle</h2>
<p>By the researchers&#8217; own admission, according to <em>Physics World</em>, many details of the new theory still need to be hammered out. But co-author Neil Turok, of the Perimetery Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, argued in an interview with the publication that the new theory is a strong one because it relies only on known particles and fields, instead of assuming that new ones will be discovered in the future.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is this frame of mind that you explain a new phenomenon by inventing a new particle or field,&#8221; he told <em>Physics World</em>. &#8220;I think that may turn out to be misguided.&#8221;</p>
<div>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/our-universe-has-antimatter-partner-on-the-other-side-of-the-big-bang-say-physicists/">Our universe has antimatter partner on the other side of the Big Bang, say physicists</a> [<em>Physics World</em>]</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><em><strong>More on the dark matter: </strong><a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter">An Oxford Scientist May Have Solved the Mystery of Dark Matter</a></em></p>
</div>


The Big Bang didn't just result in our familiar universe, according to a mind-bending new theory.

New theory: "mirror image" of our universe existed before big bang

Mr. Universe

According to a new theory, the Big Bang also generated a second "anti-universe" that extended backwards in time, like a mirror image of our own.

New Theory: “Mirror Image” of Our Universe Existed Before Big Bang

A bizarre theory could explain dark matter.

<h2>Dark Matter</h2>
<p>Experts are hopeful that a new study on how dark matter moves through galaxies could finally lead to an understanding of the mysterious substance.</p>
<p>&#8220;This study may be the &#8216;smoking gun&#8217; evidence that takes us a step closer to understanding what dark matter is,&#8221; co-author Matthew Walker, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, said in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-01-dark.html">press release</a>. &#8220;Our finding that it can be heated up and moved around helps to motivate searches for a dark matter particle.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Dwarf Galaxies</h2>
<p>In the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/sty3404/5265085">new paper</a>, published in the journal <em>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</em>, Walker and colleagues at the University of Surrey and ETH Zürich analyzed data about the distribution of dark matter — a mysterious and seemingly invisible substance that is believed to comprise the overwhelming majority of mass in the universe — in 16 dwarf galaxies.</p>
<p>&#8220;We found a truly remarkable relationship between the amount of dark matter at the centres of these tiny dwarfs, and the amount of star formation they have experienced over their lives,&#8221; said co-author Justin Read of the University of Surrey. &#8220;The dark matter at the centres of the star-forming dwarfs appears to have been &#8216;heated up&#8217; and pushed out.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Smoking Gun</h2>
<p>Though it sounds esoteric, the report&#8217;s authors say that the finding is an exciting new clue that could lead to a better understanding of dark matter. Future models that explain the mysterious substance, they say, will need to account for why new star formation pushes it to the edges of galaxies, narrowing down the field for new theories.</p>
<p>It could even lead to new techniques, Walker said, that scientists could use to identify a dark matter particle — a Holy Grail of experimental physics.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-01-dark.html">Dark Matter on the Move</a> [<i>Phys.org</i>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on dark matter:</em><em> </em><em><a href="https://futurism.com/oxford-scientist-may-have-solved-mystery-dark-matter">An Oxford Scientist May Have Solved the Mystery of Dark Matter</a></em></strong></p>


It puts us one step closer to identifying a dark matter particle — a Holy Grail of experimental physics.

New finding could be "smoking gun" in understanding dark matter

New Clue

The discovery of a relationship between the dark matter in dwarf galaxies and their star formation could help us understand the mysterious material.

New Finding Could Be “Smoking Gun” in Understanding Dark Matter

It could help us nail down the nature of the mysterious material.

<h2>Star Light</h2>
<p>For decades, astronomers have been trying to spot dark matter, an invisible substance that makes up <a href="https://futurism.com/one-step-closer-dark-matter">about 85 percent of the matter in the universe</a> and lends much of the gravitational force holding galaxies together. Figuring out how to find and study dark matter would give scientists a better understanding of how the universe formed and how it works today.</p>
<p>But in spite of its prevalence, much of what we know about dark matter comes from indirect measurements, collected by expensive equipment, that require serious mathematical gymnastics to interpret. Scientists <a href="https://futurism.com/astronomers-are-using-artificial-intelligence-to-search-for-gravitational-lenses">use gravitational lensing</a>, for example, to track dark matter by looking at the gravitational pull it exerts on nearby stars or planets.</p>
<p>Now, new research suggests there&#8217;s a simpler and cheaper way to measure dark matter. The new astronomical trick tracks the light given off by stars that have been ripped from their home galaxies — and NASA scientists say it gives them more accurate readings on the distribution of dark matter than ever before.</p>
<h2>Star Bright</h2>
<p>It turns out that scientists can get precise measurements on dark matter distribution by recording something called intracluster light, according to NASA research <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/releases/science_papers/heic1820/heic1820a.pdf">published to the preprint server <em>ArXiv</em> in October</a>, that looked at intracluster light in images taken by the Hubble Telescope.</p>
<p>Intracluster light is the light given off by stars that are flung away when galaxies merge or travel near another. Rather than orbiting a galaxy&#8217;s core, these stars careen through the universe alone. But it turns out that the stars take some dark matter with them.</p>
<h2>Take it Easy</h2>
<p>And it turns out that measurements of intracluster light directly correlate to the amount of dark matter present in the area, according to the research. Studying these stars — which exist in a vacuum with their corresponding pockets of dark matter — is <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-conflicting-results">much simpler and more straightforward</a> than analyzing all the dark matter that&#8217;s clumped together in a galaxy&#8217;s core.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have found a way to &#8216;see&#8217; dark matter,&#8221; University of New South Wales astronomer Mireia Montes, the lead author of the study, <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1820/">said in a press release</a>. &#8220;We have found that very faint light in galaxy clusters, the intracluster light, maps how dark matter is distributed.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1820/">Faint starlight in Hubble images reveals distribution of dark matter</a> [<em>SpaceTelescope.org</em>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on dark matter: <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-ancient-galaxy">This Ancient Galaxy Was Loaded With Dark Matter</a></em></strong></p>


Now studying dark matter is as simple as spotting visible stars.

Stars torn from galaxies let astronomers "see" dark matter

Astronomers recently discovered a new technique that makes it much easier to detect and study how dark matter is distributed throughout the universe.

Stars Torn From Galaxies Let Astronomers “See” Dark Matter

The new technique gives astronomers the most accurate dark matter measurements to date.

<h2>Dark Matter</h2>
<p>Conventional wisdom among astrophysicists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/543318a">dictates that</a> galaxies don&#8217;t start out with much dark matter, the unseen material that seems to make up most of the mass in the universe. Instead, they speculate, galaxies pick up dark matter over time through some unknown process.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20181212">new observations</a> from the McDonald Observatory in Texas have found a striking counterexample: an ancient galaxy loaded with dark matter.</p>
<h2>Ancient Galaxy</h2>
<p>The research, <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aaedbf/meta">published Wednesday</a> in <em>The Astrophysical Journal</em>, describes DSFG850.95, a galaxy 9 billion light-years away. That means the light that reaches Earth from this galaxy is 9 billion years old — providing a peek into the universe&#8217;s distant past.</p>
<p>But unlike other ancient galaxies, DSFG850.95 is chock-full of dark matter, according to the McDonald observations.</p>
<p>That contrasts with the dominant theory, which is that old galaxies are &#8220;fundamentally different to galaxies in the present-day universe,&#8221; Caitlin Casey, one of the researchers behind the new findings, said in a <a href="https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20181212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>. &#8220;The galaxy we found is a clear counter-example of that, where it seems to have dark matter behaving in the normal way, as it does in the present-day universe.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/20181212">Texas Astronomers Find that Dark Matter Dominates Across Cosmic Time</a> [<em>McDonald Observatory</em>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on dark matter:</em></strong> <a href="https://futurism.com/dark-matter-conflicting-results">Two Nearly-Identical Dark Matter Studies Have Conflicting Results</a></p>


The light they analyzed was 9 billion years old.

This ancient galaxy was loaded with dark matter

Galactic Surprise

Research suggests that the ancient galaxy DSFG850.95 was packed with dark matter, running counter to conventional wisdom.

/Dark Matter

Spotted

When the Large Hadron Collider Turns on, It May Trap Dark Matter

Fellow Kids

Disney’s “Frozen” Inspired New Attempt to Find Dark Matter

Galaxy Quest

New NASA Measurements: Milky Way Galaxy Is “On the Beefier Side”

Photon Finish

New Theory: Mass of Photons Could Explain Effects of Dark Matter

Think Again

New Map of Dark Matter Breaks Scientists’ Understanding of Physics

Tiny Metronome

A Floating, Virus-Sized Bead Could Help Find Dark Matter

Mr. Universe

New Theory: “Mirror Image” of Our Universe Existed Before Big Bang

New Clue

New Finding Could Be “Smoking Gun” in Understanding Dark Matter

Spotted

Stars Torn From Galaxies Let Astronomers “See” Dark Matter

Galactic Surprise

This Ancient Galaxy Was Loaded With Dark Matter

Load More