COSMOLOGY

Astronomers find first 'dark galaxy'

Astronomers have found the first "dark galaxy" - a black cloud of hydrogen gas and exotic particles, devoid of stars - two million light years from Earth.
This pretty much solves the problem of where all the dark matter is - hanging out in invisible clumps.
Joshua Simon, Timothy Robishaw and Leo Blitz of the University of California, Berkeley, observed a cloud of hydrogen gas called HVC 127-41-330 using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.
It appears to be rotating so fast it would fall apart unless it contains a strong, hidden source of gravity. The researchers therefore argue that the cloud must be at least 80 per cent dark matter, the hypothetical invisible substance whose gravity is supposed to explain why many objects in the cosmos move as fast as they do.

[The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle is a brilliant piece of science fiction written in the late 50's. Hoyle was a distinguished and controversial British astronomer, mathematician, popularizer of science, and novelist, who rejected the 'big bang' theory.]