Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, tracing the boundary between galaxies and the cosmic web for the first time. The team imaged a 3 million light-year-long thread in the cosmic web, connecting two actively forming galaxies that existed 2 billion years ago. These galaxies are home to supermassive black holes, which play a crucial role in star formation.
The cosmic web is the vast scaffold upon which the universe’s structure is formed, and studying it is essential for understanding cosmic evolution. To visualize this invisible network, researchers used the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.
However, observing the cosmic web poses significant challenges due to its composition of dark matter, which does not interact with light. The team overcame these difficulties by combining MUSE observations with supercomputer simulations based on the standard model of cosmology.
The observation has provided substantial agreement between theory and observations, suggesting that the cosmic web’s structure aligns with predictions. Nevertheless, the team acknowledges the need to uncover more cosmic web lines to gain a comprehensive understanding of gas distribution and flow in the universe.
This research was published in Nature Astronomy in January 2025 and offers a significant step forward in our understanding of the cosmos.
Source: https://www.space.com/cosmic-web-two-galaxies-image