Dark matter suspended from massive filaments that span the universe and create a "cosmic web" that ensnares galaxies like morning dew on a spiderweb has been discovered by astronomers for the first time.
Researchers from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, used the Subaru Telescope, an 8.2-meter optical-infrared telescope near the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii, and the impact of gravity on light to indirectly observe dark matter in the Coma Cluster.
With strands extending for tens of millions of light-years, this structure may have had an impact on the universe's evolution. This is the first detection of dark matter on the cosmic web.
The Coma Cluster, also known as Abell 1656, is a collection of over a thousand galaxies located approximately 321 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Coma Berenices. Because of its massive size and close proximity, the Coma Cluster is a perfect location for scientists to search for dark matter on cosmic web strands.
The cosmic web is a network of matter-filled filaments that feed gas into galaxies and aid in their expansion. This web also helps galaxies connect, causing them to cluster.
The main filaments of the cosmic web are themselves the walls of galaxy superclusters, with the wall corresponding with the Coma Cluster known as the
"great wall." The Great Wall was the universe's first super-large structure to be identified.
Clusters of galaxies are thought to collect where filaments meet, but these filaments are thought to terminate between galaxies, forming "intracluster filaments." Dark matter is projected to travel along the cosmic web filaments that hang from the intracluster filaments.
