For decades, astronomers have faced an embarrassing problem. They can’t find most of the mass in our own galaxy, let alone the universe.
Crosshairs track a faint white dwarf. The motion of the star over the 43-year period shown indicates it’s in our galaxy’s halo. Oppenheimer et al./Sciencexpress
Simply put, the tug exerted by all the visible matter in the Milky Way isn’t enough to keep all the galaxy’s stars and gas from flying apart.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.