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galaxy may be cast anchor to jumbo " dark hotshot " — clumps of unseeable matter sitting at their CORE , new research intimate .

Although astronomers have an teemingness of evidence that most of the mass in any give galaxy is invisible , they do not yet know the identicalness of this " dark matter . " In late decades , the most promising hypothesis has been that dark matter is made of some form of heavy particle that rarely , if ever , interact with light or other topic . But this hypothesis fight to excuse the relatively downhearted denseness of Galax urceolata cores , because simulations of dark thing ’s behavior predict that it should easily bunch up to extremely high denseness , which does not match observation .

This illustration shows Earth surrounded by filaments of dark matter called "hairs"

An illustration of “hairy” dark matter around Earth. A new study proposes that clumps of dark matter might form huge, invisible stars at the centers of galaxies like ours.

One potential result to this job is that the dark subject particles are improbably light — billions of times less monumental thanthe neutrino , the faint particle presently known . Dubbed " blurry " dark matter , these hypothetical subatomic particle are so lightheaded that their quantum - wave nature manifest on bombastic , macroscopic — even galactic — scales . This means they can stabilize into jumbo clumps of inconspicuous matter , spring dark stars .

This is specially interesting because these dingy stars can be run in quad for K of light - geezerhood but still have relatively down in the mouth masses , since the particles are so light . Thus , they can potentially form the core of galaxies , providing the bulk of these extragalactic nebula ' mass without creating superhigh densities at the galactic eye .

But galaxy are made of more than saturnine topic — fuzzy or otherwise . They also hold normal topic , distributed in the grade of diffuse throttle cloud and stars , and it ’s those elements that astronomer can in reality observe . So , to test this approximation , we ask to understand the link between fuzzy dark matter and normal subject within a galaxy .

A grainy image of a galaxy

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The ‘fuzz’ in our stars

In a newspaper print Dec. 17 , 2024 onthe preprint waiter arXiv , an international squad of astrophysicists explored how galaxies might evolve in reaction to blurred dark matter . For this first footfall , they did not attempt to recreate an entire complex beetleweed . alternatively they built a simple miniature model that contained only two components : a large per centum of fuzzed dark matter and a smaller percentage of a simple , ideal gas .

They then computed how these two components would evolve under their common gravitational influence . They incur that , despite ab initio random behavior , the fuzzy glowering matter chop-chop collected into a big clump in the center , with more diffuse cloud of morose affair besiege it .

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The throttle follow along , fuse with the hazy dark matter in the center , create what the research worker constitute a fermion - boson sensation , in reference to the two kinds of matter that mix to form the key physical object . This superstar was totally unlike our typical conception of one . It would be gigantic — up to 10,000light - yearsacross — and almost entirely invisible , except for the subtle glow of the gasoline spread throughout it .

A two-paneled image. On the left, a deep sky image showing many stars. On the right, a zoomed-in version showing a cluster of stars.

However , the researchers pointed out that this would serve as the idealistic representation of a astronomic gist , which contain higher — but not too high — densities of normal matter , thereby reassert a key prediction of the fuzzy dreary matter model .

The next dance step is to build even more sophisticated models to explore what these " stars " might take care like so that astronomers can liken the predictions to real - world observations .

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument maps the night sky from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope in Arizona.

An abstract illustration of lines and geometric shapes over a starry background

a diagram showing the Perseus galaxy cluster

A NASA graphic depicting a galaxy with a red half-circle superimposed over it to represent the mass of dark matter believed to be found there.

An illustration of a black hole

An illustration showing various aspects of the early universe, including radiation generated by the Big Bang and ancient black holes

An illustration of the Milky Way�s central black hole, wrapped in orange gas clouds and orbiting stars

A green aurora rings part of the globe

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an MRI scan of a brain

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.

an illustration of a black hole