Mysterious glow at the Milky Way's center could reshape a major cosmic theory

A faint glow in the Milky Way could be a dark matter footprint

New simulations suggest a faint glow at the center of the Milky Way could be dark matter's long-sought signature, potentially bringing scientists one step closer to detecting the elusive substance.

Mysterious glow at the Milky Way's center could reshape a major cosmic theory

A mysterious glow at the center of the Milky Way has puzzled astronomers for more than a decade. New research offers an explanation that could also reshape what we know about dark matter.

Brightness detected in space could be a sign of dark matter self-destructing

A strange gamma-ray glow in the heart of the Milky Way could represent the long-sought “fingerprint” of dark matter particles annihilating, a new study suggests. Researchers who simulated Milky Way–like galaxies found that the mysterious extra gamma radiation coming from the galactic center could be explained either by dark matter annihilation or by millisecond pulsars—and the dark matter hypothesis might even have a slight edge. “Dark matter do…

Milky Way glow may reveal hidden dark matter

Scientists may be closer than ever to proving the existence of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up more than a quarter of the universe. By studying a mysterious glow of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics believe they have found evidence that matches what would be expected if dark matter particles were colliding and releasing bursts of ener…