When theory and observations favor different results, how can astronomers determine which one is more feasible?

Increasing confidence in one theory over another oftentimes requires building a richer dataset to improve current models and lower uncertainties. A team of scientists have done just that to help alleviate the murkiness of a long-standing debate: the cusp-core problem. By analyzing NASA's Hubble Space Telescope data gathered over an almost two-decade span, astronomers have charted stellar movements within a galaxy and discovered the likely clumping of dark matter in its center.