Ring of Dark Matter

darkmatter_thumb.jpgUsing NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a ghostly ring of dark matter that formed long ago during a titanic collision between two galaxy clusters.

The ring’s discovery is among the strongest evidence yet that dark matter exists. Astronomers have long suspected the existence of the invisible substance as the source of additional gravity that holds together galaxy clusters.

Dark matter makes up most of the universe’s material. Ordinary matter, which makes up stars and planets, comprises only a small percent of the universe’s matter.

The ring, which measures 2.6 million light-years across, was found in the cluster CL0024+17, located 5 billion light-years from Earth.

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5 Comments

  1. This is just jaw-dropping! Incredibly cool. (Although it does crack me up how astronomers are making theories about and doing calculations with and making simulations involving a substance whose existence has not even been proven…)

  2. Yea I’ve seen a show on the science channel on dark matter and the evidence is pretty compelling

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