Galaxy dark matter halos as a research area focuses on the structure, composition, and dynamical role of extended, non-luminous mass distributions surrounding galaxies, investigated primarily through gravitational effects such as rotation curves, strong and weak lensing, satellite kinematics, and large-scale structure. This field addresses halo density profiles, concentration–mass relations, subhalo populations, and their dependence on cosmological parameters and dark matter models (e.g., cold vs. warm). It also studies baryon–halo interactions, including feedback-driven core formation, galaxy–halo connection (abundance matching, halo occupation), and the impact of halos on galaxy formation, evolution, and environmental processes within the cosmological context.
European astronomers have used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a recently discovered giant disk galaxy known as ADF22.1. Results of the new observations, published ...
The launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 pushed the horizon of seeing the early universe, unveiling cosmic events just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Among the most striking discoveries ...
Astronomy
Apr 16, 2026
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The absence of a signal could itself be a signal. This is the idea behind a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which aims to redefine how we search for dark matter, showing that it ...
Astronomy
Apr 9, 2026
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Astronomers have long argued that dark matter is the invisible scaffolding that holds galaxies together. Without its immense gravitational pull, the rotational spins of galaxies would force them to simply fly apart. But now, ...
Astronomy
Apr 2, 2026
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Our Milky Way's halo of hot gas is warmer to the "south" than the "north" because of an internal combustion engine-like effect that is compressing the gas like a piston, a new study has found. Computer simulations reveal ...
Astronomy
Mar 26, 2026
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Stellar streams are trails of stars that astronomers can study to solve mysteries about the history of our Milky Way galaxy and, potentially, the dark matter that helps shape the cosmos despite eluding direct observation. ...
Astronomy
Mar 23, 2026
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Using the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, an international team of astronomers has observed C-19—an extremely metal-poor stellar stream in the Milky Way's halo. Results of the observational campaign, ...
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors—a small, gas-rich galaxy visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere, and bound to our galaxy by gravity, alongside its companion, ...
Astronomy
Mar 16, 2026
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Using data from the Magellan Clay telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), astronomers have investigated a galactic globular cluster known as NGC 5824. Results of the new study, available in a paper published ...
Two new studies have measured the expansion of the universe in our immediate cosmic neighborhood using a novel method that analyzes the motion of two nearby galaxy groups within their surrounding cosmic flow. The results ...
Astronomy
Mar 11, 2026
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