Dark matter, the elusive search: Latest discoveries and news

Hubble Reveals Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter
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. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble)

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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