The most detailed map of Dark Matter. © NASA
The most detailed map of dark matter yet could help explain some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.
About 85% of the universe is made of dark matter. This new map helps scientists understand where it is and how it shapes the cosmos.
With help from the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have created the clearest map so far of dark matter, a substance we cannot see directly.
Everything we can see, like stars, planets, and people, makes up only about 15% of all matter. The rest is dark matter, which does not give off or reflect light and cannot be seen with telescopes.
Scientists know dark matter exists because of how it affects gravity. It influences how fast galaxies spin, how they stay together, and how light bends as it travels through space.
The new map uses this bending of light, called gravitational lensing. Webb observed tiny shape changes in around 250,000 distant galaxies. These distortions reveal where dark matter lies between us and those galaxies.
More in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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