How can astronomers study something that nobody has ever seen? In this episode, we switch to the dark side to shine a light on one of the biggest questions in all of astrophysics: the nature of dark matter. Malena teaches us how dark matter helps galaxy clusters glow up, and Will takes a journey to the center of the Earth to find prehistoric prints from a big WIMP. Plus, Alex brings us our most romantic space sound yet. 
 
Astrobites:
<a href='https://astrobites.org/2019/02/12/looking-for-a-dark-matter-needle-in-an-x-ray-stack/'>https://astrobites.org/2019/02/12</a>
<a href='https://astrobites.org/2018/06/19'>https://astrobites.org/2018/06/19</a>
 
Space sound: https://www.system-sounds.com/heartbeat-stars/
Credits: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)
Credit: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo & A. Santaguida). Data recorded by Kepler and accessed from MAST.

Episode 37: How to Date a Star

Astrobites for your ears. Three grad students bring you cutting-edge research findings in astronomy and connect the dots between diverse subfields.