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Article: A cosmic crisis? Dark doings in the universe. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 13, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Astronomers appear to have a heavenly crisis on their hands, and it concerns material they can't even detect.
Professional star watchers thought for years that they understood the basic theory of how structure--galaxies and galaxy clusters--arose in the universe. Now, some are worried that they don't have it quite right. The recent observations that roused their concerns, however, also are providing data that are beginning to put a face on the mystery material that underlies the problem.
That stuff is called dark matter. As researchers piece together a profile of this so-far elusive substance, which they believe makes up most of the universe's matter, ...