Latest Dark matter Stories

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed how much dark matter it takes to form a new galaxy bursting with stars. Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission supported with important NASA contributions. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The findings are a key step in understanding how dark matter, an invisible substance permeating our universe, contributed to the birth of massive galaxies in the...

The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed how much dark matter it takes to form a new galaxy bursting with stars. Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission supported with important NASA contributions.The findings are a key step in understanding how dark matter, an invisible substance permeating our universe, contributed to the birth of massive galaxies in the early universe."If you start with too little dark matter, then a developing galaxy would peter out," said...

By Robert Sanders, UC BerkeleyAnalysis method can locate satellite galaxies based on the ripples they create in the hydrogen gasPlanet X, an often-sought 10th planet, is so far a no-show, but Sukanya Chakrabarti has high hopes for finding what might be called Galaxy X "“ a dwarf galaxy that she predicts orbits our Milky Way Galaxy.Many large galaxies, such as the Milky Way, are thought to have lots of satellite galaxies too dim to see. They are dominated by "dark matter," which...

TAU astronomers identify the epoch of the first fast growth of black holesMost galaxies in the universe, including our own Milky Way, harbor super-massive black holes varying in mass from about one million to about 10 billion times the size of our sun. To find them, astronomers look for the enormous amount of radiation emitted by gas which falls into such objects during the times that the black holes are "active," i.e., accreting matter. This gas "infall" into massive...

Cosmologists have come up with a new way to solve their problems. They are inviting scientists, including those from totally unrelated fields, to participate in a grand competition. The idea is to spur outside interest in one of cosmology's trickiest problems -- measuring the invisible dark matter and dark energy that permeate our universe.The results will help in the development of new space missions, designed to answer fundamental questions about the history and fate of our...

The biggest galaxies in the universe are elliptical galaxies. The largest of these hold over one trillion stars according to astronomical census takers, compared to 400 billion in our Milky Way. However, new research shows that elliptical galaxies actually hold five to ten times as many stars as previously believed. This means that the total number of stars in the universe is likely three times bigger than realized.The hidden stars are known as red dwarfs for their color and small size....

Researchers from the Institute for Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) and other European groups have studied the effects of the presence of dark matter in the Sun. According to their calculations, low mass dark matter particles could be transferring energy from the core to the external parts of the Sun, which would affect the quantity of neutrinos that reach the Earth."We assume that the dark matter particles interact weakly with the Sun's atoms, and what we have done is calculate at what level...

Search for ultra high energy neutrinos from space turns the moon into part of the 'detector'Seeking to detect mysterious, ultra-high-energy neutrinos from distant regions of space, a team of astronomers used the Moon as part of an innovative telescope system for the search. Their work gave new insight on the possible origin of the elusive subatomic particles and points the way to opening a new view of the Universe in the future.The team used special-purpose electronic equipment brought to the...

UBC and TRIUMF physicists have proposed a unified explanation for dark matter and the so-called baryon asymmetry--the apparent imbalance of matter with positive baryon charge and antimatter with negative baryon charge in the Universe.The visible Universe appears to be made of atoms, and each of these atoms carries a positive baryon charge equal to total number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus.However, since the discovery of antimatter in 1932, researchers have wondered why the Universe...

An international team of astronomers have discovered a unique and exotic star system with a very cool methane-rich (or T-) dwarf star and a "˜dying' white dwarf stellar remnant in orbit around each other. The system is a "˜Rosetta Stone' for T-dwarf stars, giving scientists the first good handle on their mass and age.The team, led by Dr Avril Day-Jones of the Universidad de Chile and including Dr David Pinfield of the University of Hertfordshire as well as astronomers from the University of...