81.   Such clumps of dark matter would have attracted ordinary matter to create larger clumps and set in motion agglomerations leading to stars and galaxies.

82.   Still, the galactic halos described in the report can only account for a very small percentage of the total of dark matter.

83.   That figure includes ordinary matter found in stars and planets and people, as well as exotic and so far undetectable particles known as cold dark matter.

84.   That includes so-called dark matter, an invisible source of gravity that probably accounts for most of the matter in the universe.

85.   That would still not account for all the dark matter in the universe, but it would be a start.

86.   The explosions, on the other hand, have little effect on exotic dark matter.

87.   The current findings have no bearing on the dark matter in the vast spaces between galaxies, also presumably a major component of cosmic mass.

88.   The favored hypothesis predicts the existence of cold dark matter, exotic and as yet unknown subatomic elementary particles that emerged from the Big Bang.

89.   The gravity of the dark matter is also thought to prevent individual galaxies from breaking to pieces.

90.   The latest work suggests a huge intergalactic spread of dark matter.