From Shannon Palus at New Scientist:
THERE is a hole in the sun. Right in the middle, a mass the size of 1500 Earths has simply disappeared. Much of what we know about the sun’s behaviour says it should be there – but when we interpret the data encoded in sunlight, that chunk of stuff is nowhere to be seen.
That has shaken up our understanding of how the sun works, and physicists are struggling to figure out what fills that hole. It could be a thing, like dark matter. It could be a concept, with elements such as carbon and nitrogen simply behaving in a way we didn’t expect under crushing pressure. Or perhaps we’re looking at the sun in the wrong way.More.
It got our attention anyway.
See also: Are we really closing in on dark matter? At this point, it may be useful to stop and ask, is there a date on dark matter’s IOU? Is there any point at which we can reevaluate without starting a blame circus? Because, if not, this is really a quest for something in inner space, not outer space and it is not clear what we are looking for.
and
Rob Sheldon: Dark matter has finally been found—in pop science mags