Cosmic Car Crash: The Universe's Invisible Skeleton

Mapping the universe's invisible skeleton

Chapter 1

The cosmic skeleton key

Chapter 2

Spinning the cosmic web

Chapter 3

Weighing the invisible

Chapter 4

The ultimate cosmic detective hunt

YOUR GOAL

Master of Mapping the universe's invisible skeleton

Ch 3 · Weighing the invisible

007skaty Two galaxy groups collide in the Bullet Cluster.

We map the invisible by tracing its influence on what we can see.

007skaty Gravitational lensing turns massive space structures into giant magnifying glasses

Baby pictures of the infant universe

007skaty Europe's Planck mission mapped temperature fluctuations down to one-millionth of a degree in the Cosmic Microwave Background to

A cosmic car crash in slow motion

007skaty Glowing gas collides in a slow-motion cosmic car crash within the Bullet Cluster.

Cosmic Ghost Scales

BETA

007skaty Balance cosmic ghost scales to discover how invisible dark matter shapes the universe.

Fun Fact

Einstein's doubt: Albert Einstein predicted gravitational lensing in 1936 but wrote that astronomers would probably never be able to observe it directly.

Gossip

Who should get naming rights for a new cosmic structure?

Quiz

Where is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, built to map dark matter, located?

007skaty The Vera C. Rubin Observatory maps the dark universe from Chile.

Quiz

What is the phenomenon where a massive object's gravity bends light from behind it?

Quiz

How does the Vera C. Rubin Observatory plan to detect dark matter?

Quiz

What is the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)?

Quiz

Why was the Bullet Cluster collision so important for dark matter research?

Quiz

What shape does gravitational lensing often warp distant galaxy light into?

Quiz

What did astronomers observe in the Bullet Cluster collision that proved dark matter exists?

Quiz

Which telescope, launched in 2009, mapped the Cosmic Microwave Background with extreme precision?