He introduces readers to this search, defining what scientists know about the nature of dark matter and introducing candidate hiding places known as
massive compact halo objects (MACHOs).
Most are as exotic as the names their inventors have given them:
massive compact halo objects (MACHOs), weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), axions, neutralinos, and wimpzillas.
Finding some, they reasoned, would support the scenario that the Milky Way is surrounded by a vast reservoir of matter composed of so-called
massive compact halo objects (MACHOs).
The dwarfs could account for about half the Milky Way's dark matter and may be some of the long-sought MACHOs (
massive compact halo objects) that scientists have suggested reside at the outskirts of the galaxy (SN: 4/29/95, p.
In analyzing the first 2 years' worth of data from their continuing search, the researchers found seven lensing events that they ascribe to assemblages of dark matter known as
Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs).