Comment Re:So there's more dust than previously thought... (Score 1, Informative) 139
Hi everyone, I teach astronomy, and I see this all the time: the term "dark matter" is almost always misconstrued to be some strange, exotic form of matter. In reality, its just an umbrella term meaning ANY kind of matter that, for one reason or another, is obscured from our observations. So yes, IS dust clouds could be a significant contributor to the "missing matter" that we think is out there. Really, anything we can't directly observe. Think about it: no detector is 100% efficient, and no observation equipment can scan ALL the frequencies of the EM spectrum. We can cover good portions of it, but not all...so there's some vital information missing. Also, cool objects emit vastly less broadband radiation, so objects like old dead dwarfs (red, white and black), "failed" stars like brown dwarfs, exoplanetary systems just to name a few do not contribute much to the "light" we receive from the rest of the universe. And light is really ALL we have to go on in observational astronomy.
And let's not get started on neutrino mass... :)