Chinese satellite detects mysterious signals in search for dark matter

Photo taken on Nov. 2, 2017 shows Fan Yizhong, deputy chief designer of the scientific application system of the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), introduces research findings at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. China's DAMPE has detected unexpected and mysterious signals in its measurement of high-energy cosmic rays, which might bring scientists a step closer to shedding light on invisible dark matter. The satellite, also called Wukong, or Monkey King, has measured more than 3.5 billion cosmic ray particles with the highest energy up to 100 tera-electron-volts (TeV for short, corresponding to 1 trillion times the energy of visible light), including 20 million electrons and positrons, with unprecedentedly high energy resolution. The initial detection results were published in the latest issue of the academic journal, Nature. [Photo/Xinhua]