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Dark matter-hunting boffins spot EXCITING signal in X-ray spectrum

Surprise photon emission tantalises scientists

Vid Boffins believe they may finally have detected the first sign of dark matter, after picking up an unusual photon emission signal in X-rays coming from space.

Scientists from the EPFL lab of particle physics and cosmology (LPPC) and Leiden University are expected to publish their findings next week in Physical Review Letters.

In the meantime, a video was released by the team, who think they may have stumbled on the stuff that makes up the majority of the "real" universe.

Youtube Video

"Dark matter is everywhere, also it is very hard to catch, everybody is looking for it and this may be the first sign," said EPFL researcher Alexey Boyarsky.

Boffins discovered a surprise photon emission in the X-ray spectrum when observing two celestial objects – the Perseus galaxy cluster and the Andromeda galaxy. The signal is not linked to any known form of matter. The same observations were also made in our Milky Way galaxy.

If the scientists have hunted down dark matter, it could help them to take a fresh look at astronomy to better understand how the universe was formed, said EPFL researcher Oleg Ruchayskiy. ®

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