Zooming in on dark matter

Our cosmologists have zoomed in on the smallest clumps of dark matter in a virtual universe - which could help us find the real thing in space. Using a supercomputer simulation of the universe they achieved a zoom equivalent to being able to see a flea on the surface of the Moon. This meant they could make detailed pictures and analyses of hundreds of virtual dark matter haloes from the very largest (galaxy clusters) to the tiniest (about the same as Earth's mass). Dark matter haloes Counterintuitively, in the densest regions of the haloes particles and antiparticles of dark matter can collide, producing gamma-ray radiation. By zooming in on these relatively tiny dark matter haloes the scientists can work out the amount of radiation expected to come from haloes of different sizes. This means that very small haloes could be identified in future observations by the radiation they are thought to give out. This would confirm the theory of the nature of dark matter - which may not be entirely dark after all.