Astrophysicists Turn to the Skies to Measure the Mass of the Neutrino How an almost massless particle has shaped the large-scale structure of the universe By Sudeep Das and Tristan L. Smith WARPED: Cosmic microwave background radiation collected by telescopes on the earth and in space has been subtly distorted by dark matter. By tracing the distortions, physicists can [...] Continue reading →

By Clara Moskowitz Published February 18, 2013 the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and hot gas in the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520, formed from a violent collision of massive galaxy clusters. “False-colored” maps showing the concentration of starlight, hot gas, and dark matter in the cluster are superimposted on a natural-color [...] Continue reading →

Video: Stellar cataclysm The protons that constantly smack into Earth’s atmosphere at near the speed of light get their huge energies from exploding stars. At least that’s what physicists and astronomers had long suspected, but direct evidence for the idea has been difficult to come by – until now. Cosmic rays are any charged particles arriving [...] Continue reading →