Want to Learn More About Dark Matter? Send an Atomic Clock Close to the Sun
If dark matter exists in our solar system, atomic clock spacecraft might reveal its presence.
The Technique for Detecting Meteors Could be Used to Find Dark Matter Particles Entering the Atmosphere
Researchers from Ohio State University have come up with a novel method to detect dark matter, based on existing meteor-detecting technology. By using ground-based radar to search for ionization trails, similar to those produced by meteors as they streak through the air, they hope to use the Earth’s atmosphere as a super-sized particle detector. The …
In a New Hubble Image, Dark Matter Anchors the Giant Galaxy Cluster Abell 611
Dark matter. It’s secret. It’s dark because it doesn’t give off any light. We can’t see it, taste it, touch it, smell it, or even feel it. But, astronomers can measure this dark secret of the universe. How? By looking at galaxies and galaxy clusters. Dark matter exerts a gravitational influence on those regions, and …
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Astronomers Chart the Influence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy on the Universe by Measuring Over 1,500 Supernovae
Two decades of supernova observations still leave big mysteries unsolved.
Dwarf Galaxies Found Without Influence From Dark Matter
Ask astronomers about dark matter and one of the things they talk about is that this invisible, mysterious “stuff” permeates the universe. In particular, it exists in halos surrounding most galaxies. The mass of the halo exerts a strong gravitational influence on the galaxy itself, as well as on others in the neighborhood. That’s pretty …
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Jupiter Missions Could Also Help Search for Dark Matter
In a recent study published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, two researchers from Brown University demonstrated how data from past missions to Jupiter can help scientists examine dark matter, one of the most mysterious phenomena in the universe. The reason past Jupiter missions were chosen is due to the extensive amount of data …
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Astronomers Measure the Signal of Dark Matter From 12 Billion Years ago
The most distant measure of dark matter suggests the universe might have behaved differently in the past.
The World’s Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector has Come Online
Individual contributors have become less and less prominent in scientific fields as the discipline itself has matured. Some individuals still hold the public spotlight for their discoveries, such as Peter Higgs with the Higgs boson, which several other physicists also theorized around the same time he did. However, the actual data that eventually gave Dr. …
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Gravitational Wave Telescopes Could Detect Clumps of Dark Matter Drifting Through the Solar System
Attempts to directly detect dark matter have come up empty. A team of physicists have proposed a brand new method: if dark matter exists in clumps that occasionally pass through the solar system, we may be able to detect their slight influence with ultra-sensitive gravitational waves detectors.
Dark Stars: The First Stars in the Universe Could Have Been Powered by Annihilating Dark Matter
Dark matter doesn’t really do much of anything in the present-day universe. But in the early days of the cosmos there may have been pockets of dark matter with high enough density that they provided a source of heat for newly forming stars. Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of “dark stars.”