The mystification of the Missing Mass In the 20th century, astronomers faced a disturbing problem. worlds spun too fast. Stars at the edges of gyrations should have flown off into stellar space, yet they cleaved together as if held by some unseen cement. Vera Rubin, a pioneering astronomer, counterplotted the stir of stars in helical worlds and verified what numerous suspected there was n’t enough visible matter to explain the stability of worlds. commodity unnoticeable was at work commodity that did n’t shine, did n’t absorb light, but wielded graveness.