Dark Matter makes up the majority of the mass in the Universe, yet we still don't really know what it is. Fermi is helping us figure it out by searching for gamma-rays from dark matter particles annihilating each other in the most likely locations in the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies.

Although we know can infer how dark matter influences the normal matter it surrounds, detecting dark matter itself is challenging. Dark matter particles should annihilate with each other and produce gamma-rays, therefore we search all the dark places in the gamma-ray sky to see if those photons are hiding in our data.

The best places to look for dark matter is where we don't see much light. Optical surveys have uncovered tens of faint dwarf galaxies surrounding our the Milky Way galaxies. There are great places to look for gamma-rays from dark matter.

The mysteries surrounding dark matter's make up, locations, and properties have inspired creative animations by MICA students and our usual bakers.