杏吧原创

A family of dim dwarf stars on the outskirts of our Galaxy may have revealed the identity of much of the supposedly 鈥渄ark鈥� matter nearby.

Observations of the way stars move under gravity has suggested the outer galactic regions harbour lots of matter we can鈥檛 see. Theory suggests up to 35 per cent of it is ordinary matter in some invisible form, while the rest is exotic particles new to physics.

Now Ben Oppenheimer of the University of California at Berkeley says much of the ordinary 鈥渄ark鈥� matter is just white dwarf stars that are difficult to see.

In a survey, his team has seen a host of faint white dwarfs. The results suggest they account for between three to 35 per cent of the mystery mass. The results will appear in a future issue of Science.

The dwarfs are relics of stars born during the Galaxy鈥檚 youth and could shed light on the Milky Way鈥檚 formation.