Schematic diagram of large-scale structure of the universe.
Recent studies have found that about half of the universe made up of particles collectively called baryons has yet to be observed. Scientists now believe the matter exists as “silk threads” that link large areas of space in the universe.
The threads, made of hot gas, are extremely sparse, with only about 10 particles per cubic meter of space — far fewer than any vacuum that can be made on Earth. Previously, scientists had been unable to observe these structures.
In recent years, with the launch of the space telescope eROSITA, scientists have finally been able to see the structure of these threads. EROSITA is a highly sensitive X-ray telescope with a wide field of view and can observe a large area of the sky at a time, thus having the ability to observe these filaments.
A recent study published in the journal Astronomy& Astrophysics revealed that the longest known filament structure, 50 million light years long, was found in the eROSITA data.
Moreover, its structure is very similar to that of the computer model based on the Standard Model of the Universe, meaning that the observation confirms the Standard model.
This “Standard Model” is what people often hear about the Big Bang: our universe exploded from a tiny point about 13.8 billion years ago and expanded to its current state.
The study mentions the “sponge” structure of the universe in order to explain the silk thread structure. The Standard Model predicts that after the explosion, the universe developed unevenly, with areas of dense matter and areas of sparse matter. Dense regions have strong gravity and constantly absorb gas from their surroundings, resulting in more and more dense evolution of dense regions. And the space between the dense areas becomes more and more empty. Over more than 13 billion years of evolution, the result has been a “sponge-like” structure: some regions are like holes in a sponge with no matter at all, while others are regions of massive stars and galaxies, such as constellations.
If this model is correct, the study says, then the dense regions of the celestial world, still made up of remnants of gas, are linked together to form a cosmic web.
“It has been calculated that more than half of baryon matter in the universe resides in these filaments. Baryonic matter includes the matter that makes up all the stars, galaxies, and us.” Explains lead researcher Thomas Reiprich, an astronomy professor at the University of Bonn in Germany.
The study looked at the constellation Abell3391/95, a trio of constellations 700 million light years from Earth. EROSITA’s images show not only the entire constellation there, the individual galaxies, but also the filamentous structures that connect them, spanning 50 million light years.
The researchers think the silk structure may be larger, because the photos probably show only a part of the structure.
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