Astronomers think the Milky Way’s disk is embedded in a dark matter “halo,” like in this illustration. They have yet to detect it, however. // ESO/L. Calçada
While some scientists claim they’ve seen evidence of a “wind” of dark-matter particles, most members of the astronomy community believe this was a false detection and direct observation of this mysterious material hasn’t happened yet. This isn’t necessarily bad news, though. By not detecting it, researchers narrow the mass range of the particle likely associated with dark matter, which helps scientists create the next-generation experiments and detectors to find the material type that composes some 85 percent of the cosmic mass. — Liz Kruesi, Associate Editor
