The Evidence is Building that Dark Matter is Made of Axions
There’s some potentially big news on the hunt for dark matter. Astronomers may have a handle on what makes this mysterious cosmic stuff: strange particles called “axions.”
Dark Matter Can Make Dark Atoms
A team of theoretical astrophysicists have studied in detail a hypothetical form of dark matter that combines to form dark atoms. They found that the existence of dark atoms can drastically affect the evolution of galaxies.
Gravitational Lensing is Helping to Nail Down Dark Matter
Using gravitational lenses, a team of astronomers showed how axions could be the particle that makes up Dark Matter.
The First Light in the Universe Helps Build a Dark Matter Map
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) collaboration used years of cosmic microwave background data to create a new map of Dark Matter.
Meteor Explodes Over English Channel, Moon Breakthrough, Dark Matter Galaxy
Blue Origin wants to build solar panels on the Moon, out of the Moon, SpaceX sold its floating landing pads, and another asteroid hits Earth exactly where and when astronomers predicted.
A Galaxy has Been Found that’s Almost Entirely Dark Matter
Astronomers have discovered a galaxy with very little or no stellar mass. Galaxies like these are called ‘dark galaxies.’ It contains clouds of gas but very few stars, possibly none. This is the only isolated dark dwarf galaxy in the local universe.
Astronomers Make a New Map of all the Matter (and Dark Matter) in the Universe
There’s a lot of matter in the Universe, but not all of it is visible to us. Matter is, essentially, anything that has mass and takes up space. That includes us, the planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. It also includes dark matter. It’s all spread out through space.
New Measurements of Galaxy Rotation Lean Towards Modified Gravity as an Explanation for Dark Matter
Although dark matter is a central part of the standard cosmological model, it’s not without its issues. There continue to be nagging mysteries about the stuff, not the least of which is the fact that scientists have found no direct particle evidence of it. Despite numerous searches, we have yet to detect dark matter particles. …
Anti-Helium Generated in the Large Hadron Collider can Help in the Search for Dark Matter
Researchers from CERN’s ALICE Collaboration have come up with a new way to search for Dark Matter: look for anti-helium-3 particles!
If Dark Matter is Made of Axions, This Could be the Detector That Finds Them
As we’ve noted in plenty of other articles, science also moves forward by constraints. Understanding the limits of a physical phenomenon helps to develop better methods of looking for it, especially in its absence. Dark matter is an archetype of a missing phenomenon, but there are plenty of potential explanations for it. One of them …
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