Shedding 'Bent' Light on Dark Matter







This is one of the most
detailed maps of dark matter in our universe ever created. The location
of the dark matter (tinted blue) was inferred through observations of
magnified and distorted distant galaxies seen in this picture. Image
credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia,
University of Basque Country/JHU
› Full image
and caption

› Download
wallpaper of this Hubble image













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November 11, 2010


Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took advantage of a
giant cosmic magnifying glass to create one of the sharpest and most
detailed maps of dark matter in the universe. Dark matter is an
invisible and unknown substance that makes up the bulk of the universe's
mass. Astronomer Dan Coe led the research while working at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; he is currently with the
Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.

The astronomers used Hubble to chart the invisible matter in the massive
galaxy cluster Abell 1689, located 2.2 billion light-years away. The
cluster's gravity, the majority of which comes from dark matter, acts
like a cosmic magnifying glass, bending and amplifying the light from
distant galaxies behind it. This effect, called gravitational lensing,
produces multiple, warped, and greatly magnified images of those
galaxies, like the view in a funhouse mirror. By studying the distorted
images, astronomers estimated the amount of dark matter within the
cluster.

The new dark matter observations may yield new insights into the role of
dark energy in the universe's early formative years. A mysterious
property of space, dark energy fights against the gravitational pull of
dark matter. The new results suggest that galaxy clusters may have
formed earlier than expected, before the push of dark energy inhibited
their growth. Dark energy pushes galaxies apart from one another by
stretching the space between them, suppressing the formation of giant
structures called galaxy clusters. One way astronomers can probe this
primeval tug-of-war is by mapping the distribution of dark matter in
clusters.

Read the full story at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/37/full/
.

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.