Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Hubble makes 3D dark matter map

Thanks to Shaun Saunders for this really neat tie in! :

Astronomers have mapped the cosmic "scaffold" of dark matter upon which stars and galaxies are assembled.

Dark matter does not reflect or emit detectable light, yet it accounts for most of the mass in the Universe.

The study, published in Nature journal, provides the best evidence yet that the distribution of galaxies follows the distribution of dark matter.

Ordinary matter - gas, stars, planets and galaxies - makes up just one-sixth of all matter in the Universe. The remainder is unseen.

While previous studies of dark matter relied on simulations, this one details its large-scale distribution in 3D.


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