In the continuing search for dark matter in our universe, scientists believe they have found a unique and powerful detector: exoplanets. Astrophysicists suggest dark matter could be detected by measuring the effect it has on the temperature of exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.

Using ALMA, astronomers found a rotating baby galaxy 1/100th the size of the Milky Way at a time when the Universe was only seven percent of its present age. Thanks to assistance by the gravitational lens effect, the team was able to explore for the first time the nature of small and dark 'normal galaxies' in the early Universe, which greatly advances our understanding of the initial phase of galaxy evolution.

An international group of scientists have studied the chemical composition of 50 protoplanetary-disk forming regions in the Perseus Molecular Cloud, and found that despite being in the same cloud, the amounts of complex organic molecules they contain are quite different.

With the help of machine-learning techniques, a team of astronomers has discovered a dozen quasars that have been warped by a naturally occurring cosmic 'lens' and split into four similar images. Quasars are extremely luminous cores of distant galaxies that are powered by supermassive black holes.

An analysis by Dark Energy Survey physicists yields more precise estimates of the average density of matter as well as its propensity to clump together - two key parameters that help physicists probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy.