National Center for Computational Sciences

Our galaxy’s dark matter is clumpier than once thought, according to a new computer simulation.

The model, created by one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, shows that the spherical halo of dark matter that envelopes the Milky Way contains dense clumps and streams of the mysterious stuff, even in the neighborhood of our solar system.

“In previous simulations, this region came out smooth, but now we have enough detail to see clumps of dark matter,” said researcher Piero Madau, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dark matter, which scientists can only detect by noting its gravitational effect, is thought to make up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe. Its composition remains a mystery, though some scientists think it’s made up of hypothetical particles called WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles), which could annihilate each other and emit gamma rays when they collide.

Continue reading at Space.com.