Have we found dark matter?
The planets, stars and giant clouds of dust and gas that astronomers can see with telescopes account for only 4% of the mass of the universe. The majority of the cosmos is made up of an invisible form of mass called dark matter.
No one knows what dark matter is made of, but astronomers believe it accounts for 80% of the mass of the universe stretching out to form a celestial skeleton around which galaxies form.
Dark matter is invisible so scientists look for the strong gravitational force it exerts on light shining from galaxies behind it. This technique, “gravitational lensing”, bends the starlight and distorts the galaxies’ shape, making them appear as if seen through a fish-eye lens.
It’s just been reported that, after a search of some 70 years, it looks as if we have discovered some of this mysterious ‘stuff’ – see story here.