Researchers at the University of Cambridge have detected two massive "holes" in the otherwise glimmering sheet of stars just outside the Milky Way.

Photo source: V. Belokurov, D. Erkal, S.E. Koposov

The holes themselves are invisible, but can be detected by the effect their gravity has on visible matter within its range. These spots could point science in the direction of a better understanding of dark matter.Dark matter, which sounds sinister and kind of awesome, is actually both sinister and awesome. Over a quarter of the entire universe is believed to be made up of dark matter, an as-of-yet unidentified type of matter which cannot currently be directly observed.Study co-author Dr. Vasily Belokurov told Business Insider if dark matter can clump into groups smaller than dwarf galaxies, "it also tells us something about the nature of the particles which dark matter is made of." In other words, the particles would have to be massive."This would be a breakthrough in our understanding of dark matter," Dr. Belokurov said.While the foreboding nature of unobservable spots of gaping nothingness is kind of terrifying, we're still pushing the limits of our understanding of life, the universe, and everything. Closer to home, NASA astronauts recently wrapped a year-long simulation of a Mars mission in a Hawaiian volcano.

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