From the October 2010 issue

What happens to dark matter in the gravity field of a black hole?

J.C. Chauveau, Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis, France
By | Published: October 20, 2010
blackhole2
This artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole highlights the accretion disk of gas and stars swirling around the black hole, and the jets of material ejected along the poles.
A. Kamajian/NASA

Most of the time dark matter particles simply orbit around the black hole rather than falling in.