暗物质和暗能量是宇宙主要的组成部分,被认为是"笼罩在21世纪物理学上的两朵乌云",是基础物理与宇宙学研究最前沿的方向之一。对暗物质突破性的研究进展将极大促进人们对基本自然规律以及宇宙演化的理解。国际上对暗物质的研究极为重视,美国和欧洲都为之进行了详细周密的规划,开展了一系列的相关项目规划。中国也将暗物质的研究纳入了中长期规划,在过去的几年中国在暗物质探测方面实现了长足进步,在四川锦屏山地下实验室开展多项暗物质直接探测试验,暗物质粒子卫星作为中国空间科学先导专项的首发星,也是中国发射的第1颗天文卫星,2015年12月成功发射。通过观测暗物质粒子湮灭后的粒子产物,有可能在间接探测方向实现对暗物质研究的革命性突破。本文简介暗物质概念提出的历史与暗物质探测的天文学观测手段。

Dark matter and dark energy are considered as the "two clouds of physics at the 21st century", among the frontier of fundamental physics and cosmology research. The breakthrough will significantly change our understanding of the Universe and the fundamental law of physics. Both United States and Europe have made increasing support for the research of dark matter and approved several mid-term and long-term plans of large projects. In the last several years, China has made significant progress on the detection of dark matter, in particular the development of Jinping Underground Laboratory, and the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) has been launched last December. DAMPEhas the potential to discover dark matter particle through indirect detection approach by observing the secondary particles from dark matter annihilation. In this article, we briefly introduce the history of dark matter concept and a summary of astronomical approaches to study dark matter.