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02/07/2006:

"Astronomers shed light on mystery of 'dark matter'"

...Dark matter does not give off any light, hence its name. Scientists had always assumed that because it couldn't be seen it was "cold" - a sort of dead, sluggish cosmic sludge. But there were two further unexpected findings from the Cambridge research. The first showed that dark matter actually has a "temperature" higher than that of the surface of the Sun.

If it was made of hydrogen atoms, dark matter would be 10,000C and appear as a blinding light. Yet, confusingly, it does not give off any heat.

The second surprise was that particles of dark matter zip about at 9km per second and are loosely packed.

They are transparent to light, and unlike most particles of ordinary matter, have no electric charge. But they are weighty enough to exert a gravitational pull that prevents the stars in galaxies from flying apart.
independent.co.uk