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
Going to SXSW 2025? Here are the festival's best space-themed panels
Meet the Artemis 2 moon mission astronauts and learn about private lunar landers, space telescopes and the "dark universe" at SXSW 2025.
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Scientists have used the wobble of the Milky Way and what are known as "cosmic lighthouses" to shine a light on the mystery of dark matter.
James Webb Space Telescope joins cosmic detectives in hunt for dark matter
The James Webb Space Telescope has joined the hunt for dark matter, aiding cosmic detectives in searching for signals indicating axion decay.
Scientist image 3-million-light-year-long 'cosmic web' ensnaring 2 galaxies for 1st time
Astronomers have been able to image gas as it travels down a 3 million light-year-long cosmic highway between two growing galaxies ensnared in the cosmic web.
Euclid 'dark universe' telescope discovers stunning Einstein ring in warped space-time (image)
The "dark universe detective" space telescope Euclid has discovered its first Einstein ring in the process, learning about dark matter at the heart of a distant galaxy.
Scientists find hints of the dark universe in 3D maps of the cosmos
Computer algorithms can model the universe, matching simulations to observations and revealing the distribution of dark matter.
What are boson stars — and what do they have to do with dark matter?
The skies may be full of invisible "boson stars" that could have a connection to dark matter.
Hubble tension is now in our cosmic backyard, sending cosmology into crisis
Measurements of the distance to the Coma Cluster of galaxies find that it is millions of light years closer than the standard model predicts.
