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First Image Ever of the Dark Matter Web that Connects Galaxies » The Event Chronicle

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“A Web-Like Superstructure Predicted for Decades”

“For decades, researchers have been predicting the existence of dark-matter filaments between galaxies that act like a web-like superstructure connecting galaxies together,” said Mike Hudson, a professor of astronomy at the University of Waterloo. “This image moves us beyond predictions to something we can see and measure.”

The composite image shown below, which combines a number of individual images, confirms predictions that galaxies across the universe are tied together through a cosmic web connected by dark matter that has until now remained unobservable. In the image the locations of bright galaxies are shown by the white regions and the presence of a dark matter filament bridging the galaxies is shown in red.

Dark matter, a mysterious substance that comprises around 25 per cent of the universe, doesn’t shine, absorb or reflect light, which has traditionally made it largely undetectable, except through gravity.

As part of their research, Hudson and co-author Seth Epps, a master’s student at the University of Waterloo at the time, used a technique called weak gravitational lensing, an effect that causes the images of distant galaxies to warp slightly under the influence of an unseen mass such as a planet, a black hole, or in this case, dark matter. The effect was measured in images from a multi-year sky survey at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope…

Source: First Image Ever of the Dark Matter Web that Connects Galaxies » The Event Chronicle