In A First, NASA’s Telescope Reveals Direct Evidence Of Dark Matter

Using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, scientists claim to have observed dark matter directly for the first time. A team of researchers, led by Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo, analysed the Fermi telescope observations of the Milky Way’s centre, where the region is expected to be densest. 

In a surprising discovery, the telescope detected a halo-shaped glow of gamma rays at energies around 20 gigaelectronvolts (or 20 billion electronvolts). The gamma ray emission closely matches the shape expected from the dark matter halo. The team’s research was published on 25 November, 2025, in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. This makes up for a major development in astronomy and physics.

The team of Totani also stated that the energy signature of these gamma ray emissions closely matches that which is predicted to be produced from the annihilation of colliding WIMPs. Totani stated that no other phenomena can explain the gamma rays observed by the Fermi telescope. Totani said if this discovery is correct, it would mark the first time that dark matter has been ‘seen’.

What is Dark Matter?

A gamma-ray intensity map, (Image credit: Tomonori Totani, The University of Tokyo)

Dark matter is thought to make up about 85 per cent of all the matter in the universe. Although dark matter has been a topic of exploration for ages, it has never been directly observed in action, as it does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, which makes dark matter invisible to conventional telescopes.

So, How Can One See Dark Matter?

Scientists say there is one possibility that could result in dark matter producing light. If dark matter particles ‘annihilate’ when they meet each other and interact, then they should produce a shower of photons of gamma rays that, of course, would be invisible to the naked eye but can be captured by sensitive gamma-ray space telescopes. One of the ‘self-annihilating’ particles theorised to comprise dark matter are so-called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).

When Was Dark Matter Discovered?

Dark matter was first theorised in 1933 when astronomer Fritz Zwicky found that galaxies in the distant Coma Cluster were moving faster than their visible mass could explain, which hinted that an unseen matter, now referred to as ‘dark matter’, is exerting gravitational pull on the galaxies it surrounds.

To conclude, while the team of Totani believe that they have detected dark matter WIMPs annihilating each other at the heart of the Milky Way, the scientific community will gather more data to confirm the evidence.

Also read: What is a Black Hole? Which Is The Biggest Black Hole In The Universe?