Invisible Matter Slowing Star Movement Consumed by Black Holes

Scientists may have discovered indirect evidence that large amounts of invisible dark matter surround black holes, which could represent a major breakthrough in dark matter research. The team used stars orbiting black holes in binary systems as proxies and observed a slow-down in their orbits, concluding that the dark matter surrounding the black holes generated significant friction and a drag on the stars. Computer simulations of the black hole systems matched the predictions of the dark matter dynamical friction model, revealing that the observed rates of orbital decay were around 50 times greater than the theoretical estimation for binary systems lacking dark matter.