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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Robin McKie Science editor

Scientists seek out source of dark matter in Yorkshire

A map of a supercluster of galaxies from Nasa's Hubble space telescope – the magenta-tinted dark matter clumps are invisible, but inferred by astronomers.
A map of a supercluster of galaxies from Nasa's Hubble space telescope – the magenta-tinted dark matter clumps are invisible, but inferred by astronomers. Photograph: Alamy

British scientists have an audacious dream. They want to house a giant international particle detector that would be built 3,000ft underground in a working mine in Yorkshire. The device, they say, would give them a last clear chance to pinpoint what is the source of one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark matter.

“We are entering the last-chance saloon to show that these particles are the cause of dark matter, and we want to make sure Britain is at the heart of that work by building the final generation of these detectors,” physicist Professor Chamkaur Ghag of University College London told the Observer.

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