| − | [[Image:DarkMatterNASA1.jpg|350px|right]]'''Dark matter''', in [[astronomy]], is any hypothetical [[matter]] that is not directly detectable but which astronomers infer when the actual mass of any observed celestial object is not sufficient to account for an observed gravitational effect. It is one of two concepts (the other is [[dark energy]]) that conventional astronomers invoke to account for observations that conventional cosmologies, including the [[Big Bang]], cannot explain. Recently, [[creationist]] [[John Hartnett]] has suggested a new [[cosmology]], and a new [[physics]], that render this concept unnecessary. | + | [[Image:DarkMatterNASA1.jpg|350px|right]]'''Dark matter''', in [[astronomy]], is any hypothetical [[matter]] that is not directly detectable but which astronomers infer when the actual mass of any observed celestial object is not sufficient to account for an observed gravitational effect. It is one of two concepts (the other is [[dark energy]]) that conventional astronomers invoke to account for observations that conventional cosmologies, including the [[Big Bang]], cannot explain. |