Dark Matter Revealed: The Invisible Scaffolding Holding Galaxies Together (And How We Finally Found It)

Dark matter — the invisible substance making up 27% of the universe — doesn’t emit light, but its gravity sculpts galaxies, clusters, and cosmic voids like a celestial architect. Recent simulations and telescopes like Euclid are finally revealing how this mysterious material builds the universe’s hidden skeleton.

The Cosmic Web: Dark Matter’s Blueprint

Dark matter forms a vast network of filaments and nodes:

• Galaxies Form at Nodes: Gravity pulls gas into dark matter clumps, birthing stars.
• Voids Are Empty: Regions with little dark matter repel galaxies, creating cosmic deserts.
• Simulations Show Evolution: Supercomputers model how dark matter’s web grew over 13 billion years.

How Do We Detect the Undetectable?

• Gravitational Lensing: Dark matter bends light from distant galaxies, revealing its mass.
• Euclid Telescope: Mapping 10 billion galaxies to trace dark matter’s distribution.
• Particle Experiments: Underground detectors hunt for hypothetical WIMPs.

This animation shows the motion of a white dwarf star passing in front of a distant background star. During the passage, the faraway star appears to change its position slightly, because the white dwarf's gravity deflects the starlight's path, NASA, ESA, Greg Bacon (STScI)

Conclusion

Understanding dark matter is crucial to unlocking the secrets of the cosmos. As research continues and new data from missions like Euclid emerge, we are poised to gain unprecedented insights into the unseen forces shaping our universe.

Dark matter is the universe’s silent architect — follow @ESA_Euclid for real-time cosmic maps!