The universe’s normal and invisible dark matter are revealed in this
portrait assembled from space telescope observations
The
universe’s normal and invisible dark matter is revealed in this portrait assembled
from space telescope observations.
Normal
matter appears in red, its distribution observed primarily by the European
Space Agency’s XMM/Newton
telescope. The blue regions distinguish areas of invisible and elusive dark
matter as recorded by the Hubble
Space Telescope. The gray areas denote stars and galaxies, the visible
light of which was also observed by Hubble.
This
false-color composite is part of the COSMOS survey by Hubble researchers, which
ultimately yielded a new
three-dimensional map of dark matter distribution [image].
Dark matter is a substance predicted by astronomers to make up about one-sixth
of the matter in the universe,
with its mass and gravity holding galaxies
together, but remain invisible to detection because it does not interact with
light photons.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA, ESA and R. Massey
(California Institute of Technology).
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