Tech | December 30, 2008 | 11 comments

Aiming to grasp mysterious dark matter

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28422411/

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European satellite Gaia may reveal how dark matter is distributed in space

For the past quarter century, dark matter has been a mystery we've just had to live with. But the time may be getting close when science can finally unveil what this befuddling stuff is that makes up most of the matter in the universe.

Dark matter can't be seen. Nobody even knows what it is. But it must be there, because without it galaxies would fly apart.

Upcoming experiments on Earth such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator in Switzerland, and a new spacecraft called Gaia set to launch in 2011, could be the key to closing the case on one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in science.

A disturbing truth is accepted by most astronomers: There is a lot more stuff in the universe than what we can see. Scientists now think visible matter — all the planets, stars, and galaxies that shine down on us — represents only about 4 percent of the mass-energy budget of the universe, while dark matter and its even more esoteric cousin, dark energy, make up the rest.
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