News Physics

A massive clump of dark matter may lurk in the Milky Way

The invisible blob of matter is thought to be about 10 million times the sun’s mass

Bright spots on a dark background show dark matter's distribution in clumps.

Dark matter halos that surround galaxies are predicted to have multitudes of clumps called subhalos (bright spots in this simulation).

P. Madau, J. Diemand and M. Kuhlen/The Astrophysical Journal 2008

By Emily Conover

A huge clump of dark matter could be sitting on our galactic doorstep.