Tag: Dark Matter

  • Detector trouble expected to delay ESA’s Euclid dark energy mission

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    Artist’s concept of the Euclid spacecraft. Credit: ESA/C. Carreau Technical problems discovered during ground testing of U.S.-built detectors for the European Space Agency’s Euclid astronomy mission will delay the completion of the telescope’s scientific payload, jeopardizing the observatory’s 2020 launch target, the head of NASA’s astrophysics division said last week. Officials expect the problem, traced…

  • This galaxy is made of 99.99% dark matter

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    The dark galaxy Dragonfly 44 appears to have about as much mass as our own Milky Way galaxy, but only 0.01 percent of that mass is in the form of stars and normal matter. The rest is dark matter, scientists say. (Credit: Pieter van Dokkum and Roberto Abraham / Gemini Observatory / AURA) About 85…

  • NASA moves forward with mission using spy satellite telescope

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    Artist’s concept of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA has formally approved plans — a year ahead of schedule — for an infrared space telescope launching around 2024 to record unique wide-angle views of the cosmos, seeking answers to questions about mysterious dark energy and searching for habitable worlds around other stars, the space agency…

  • NASA’s next flagship space telescope to get formal start

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    Artist’s concept of WFIRST. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center NASA officials expect to officially kick off development in February of a multibillion-dollar observatory recycling a grounded top secret spy satellite telescope capable of studying dark energy and directly resolving planets around other stars. The WFIRST mission will launch in the 2020s as NASA’s next flagship-class…

  • NASA’s next flagship space telescope to get formal start

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    Artist’s concept of WFIRST. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center NASA officials expect to officially kick off development in February of a multibillion-dollar observatory recycling a grounded top secret spy satellite telescope capable of studying dark energy and directly resolving planets around other stars. The WFIRST mission will launch in the 2020s as NASA’s next flagship-class…

  • China sends dark matter probe into orbit

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    China launched the first in a series of planned space science probes Thursday, putting a satellite into orbit to study high-energy cosmic rays for signals hinting at hypothesized clumps of dark matter that have eluded detection for decades. The Dark Matter Particle Explorer, or DAMPE, mission is the first dedicated astrophysics observatory put into orbit…