Dark Matter Is Missing in Sun's Neighborhood?
Substance isn't "where we needed it" to match theories, researcher says.
"There will be people claiming dark matter doesn't exist because of this result," predicted study leader Christian Moni-Bidin, an astronomer at Chile's University of Concepción.
"These observations alone do not prove that dark matter does not exist. Still, it is not where we expected it and where we needed it."
(See "Dark Matter Is an Illusion, New Antigravity Theory Says.")
Even though dark matter particles can't be detected with current instruments, astronomers think the substance must make up about a quarter of the universe, based on the gravitational effect it has on visible matter such as galaxies and galaxy clusters.
Since its discovery in the 1930s, the material has become crucial for galaxy-formation theories, which say that dark matter functions as
