Dark matter's secret identity could be hiding in distorted 'Einstein rings'

A selection of Einstein rings that were photographed by the Hubble space telescope. (These rings have not been duplicated like the ones from the new study.) (Image credit: NASA)

Researchers may be one step closer to uncovering the true identity of dark matter after studying how light gets bent out of shape in weirdly warped Einstein rings and other gravitationally lensed objects.

Researchers estimate that dark matter makes up around 85% of the universe. But although experts have observed the gravitational effects of dark matter and mapped out where it could be, scientists still have no idea what it really is. This confusion is caused by the fact that dark matter does not emit light or any other form of electromagnetic radiation like ordinary, or baryonic, matter.