The James Webb Space Telescope. Photo: NASA / dima_zel / Handout via Reuters.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have created the most detailed map of dark matter that has previously been inaccessible to observation. This mysterious substance, which makes up a significant portion of the matter in the Universe, remains invisible, as reported by Reuters.
The observations were conducted over a section of the sky that is nearly three times larger than the visible disk of a full moon. This allowed scientists to "capture" dark matter, which neither emits nor reflects light.
The map was created using gravitational lensing — the effect of light bending due to mass. The Webb telescope detected slight distortions in the shape of approximately 250,000 distant galaxies, caused by the gravity of the matter between them and Earth.
Previously, similar maps were formed using data from the Hubble telescope. However, the James Webb telescope has twice the resolution and covers more extensive areas of space, allowing a glimpse into the past of the Universe 8–10 billion years ago, during the active formation of galaxies.
According to researchers, the new map with unprecedented clarity demonstrates the so-called cosmic web — a vast structure of the Universe consisting of clusters of galaxies, long strands of dark matter, and extensive voids between them.
Launched in 2021, the James Webb telescope began scientific observations in 2022 and has a light-gathering capability approximately six times greater than that of Hubble, enabling the observation of fainter and more distant objects.
Researchers note: "The Webb telescope provides us with new opportunities to observe the Universe. We see many more galaxies and with greater clarity than ever before, which directly improves the accuracy of dark matter maps."
The map covers a region of the sky in the direction of the constellation Sextans, known as the COSMOS project. Scientists hope that this data will help better understand how galaxies formed and evolved, as well as confirm current ideas about the structure and development of the Universe.
This research also aligns with the leading cosmological model, according to which most of the matter in the Universe consists of dark matter and dark energy — a mysterious force responsible for the accelerated expansion of the cosmos.
