I'm guessing this will turn out to be wrong, like the other times they apparently detected it. Would be very cool if true though.
post
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07209
I can't stand these popular science articles that just cherry pick phrases from a paper. tl;dr it's a very promising result but more observation of other galaxies or other mass consistent observations is needed before we should believe this.
However, the signal from the MW halo alone does not constitute the definitive proof of dark matter annihilation. Detection of annihilation signals from other objects or regions with consistent WIMP parameters will be crucial for the final confirmation. Gamma-ray observations of dwarf galaxies in the MW halo are fascinating from this perspective.
I would say the most exciting part is this gives us a mass range to optimise the search with earth based detectors. Start looking for 0.5-0.8 TeV masses.
Pics or it didn't happen.

Fifteen years of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data in the halo region of the Milky Way (MW) are analyzed to search for gamma rays from dark matter annihilation. . . . A statistically significant halo-like excess is found with a spectral peak around 20 GeV, while its flux is consistent with zero below 2 GeV and above 200 GeV. Examination of the fit residual maps indicates that a spherically symmetric halo component fits the map data well. The radial profile agrees with annihilation by the smooth NFW density profile, and may be slightly shallower than this, especially in the central region. . . . The halo excess spectrum can be fitted by annihilation with a particle mass mχ ∼ 0.5–0.8 TeV and cross section 〈συ〉 ∼ (5–8) × 10-25 cm3 s-1 for the bb̅ channel. This cross section is larger than the upper limits from dwarf galaxies and the canonical thermal relic value, but considering various uncertainties, especially the density profile of the MW halo, the dark matter interpretation of the 20 GeV “Fermi halo” remains feasible. The prospects for verification through future observations are briefly discussed.
The show is only a year old, and it was genuinely great.
We’re not talking about the TV series, are we?
It was very good. Joseph Mallozzi posted the original ending that he had planned. https://josephmallozzi.com/2020/07/25/that-original-dark-matter-ending-dark-timeline-edition/
I have seen dark matter from time to time especially after eating lots of red meat.
If you can see it it's no longer dark matter, just matter.
Inside the dog it is too dark to see
Huh, actually kinda amazing, and def a bit more than the "typically bs" title hinted.
Fifteen years of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data in the halo region of the Milky Way (MW) are analyzed to search for gamma rays from dark matter annihilation. . . . A statistically significant halo-like excess is found with a spectral peak around 20 GeV, while its flux is consistent with zero below 2 GeV and above 200 GeV. Examination of the fit residual maps indicates that a spherically symmetric halo component fits the map data well. The radial profile agrees with annihilation by the smooth NFW density profile, and may be slightly shallower than this, especially in the central region. . . . The halo excess spectrum can be fitted by annihilation with a particle mass mχ ∼ 0.5–0.8 TeV and cross section 〈συ〉 ∼ (5–8) × 10-25 cm3 s-1 for the bb̅ channel. This cross section is larger than the upper limits from dwarf galaxies and the canonical thermal relic value, but considering various uncertainties, especially the density profile of the MW halo, the dark matter interpretation of the 20 GeV “Fermi halo” remains feasible. The prospects for verification through future observations are briefly discussed.
Extra high energy particles too. So next time we get hit by secondary particles from a cosmic ray we know what's to blame. On the other hand the planet might not all be here without the extra gravity from dark matter so it's still all good. Radiation induced Cancer is horrible but having a decent sized planet is a definite plus
We’ll see.
No! You CAN'T see it. That's the whole point!
Before even following the link... #doubt
They’re seeing gamma rays from suspected dark matter collisions—that’s actually more substantially accurate than I was expecting.
To clarify, that's the collision of 2 dark matter particles.
Not the collision of a dark matter particle and something else.
researchers report that they have detected the invisible scaffolding based on gamma rays that result from the collision and resulting annihilation of two dark matter particles.
So, that's 2 particles of this unobservable (or, difficult to observe) matter interacting with eachother in an observable way.
Very cool
After reading the article I would call it interesting but very far from settled. Your doubt is properly placed 🤣
they shpuld have put the "indirectly" in the headline, but then they would be decent. can't have that
but then they would be decent
Lmao, what? No, if they put "indirectly" in the headline, then they'd be just as decent but actively wrong about it being the first time. We've detected dark matter in plenty of indirect ways, from the Bullet Cluster to the angular velocity of galaxies. I don't think you understand how often particle physicists observe things based on predicted properties (such as "this decays into that") rather than something we see "directly".
Dark matter is dark matter because it only interacts gravitationally with "normal" matter and energy, and we've already observed that gravitational interaction. So what's your standard for not qualifying a dark matter observation as "indirect"? Did you want two dark matter black holes colliding? Did you want the scientists to magically change how electromagnetism works?
It's fine if you don't think this is an observation of dark matter at all, but "indirect" is needlessly splitting hairs in this field. You can read the journal article – at least the abstract – and see what the evidence is.
In the field this is actually refered to as direct observation. It's confusing for someone not familiar with the jargon as it is very similar to direct detection.
Scientists are SLAMMED by dark matter sightings.
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