Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2024 October 20
       [2]A complicated web of dark filaments is seen against a light
     background. When many filmaments intersect, an orange spot is seen.
          Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                     Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe
       Illustration Credit & Copyright: [3]Tom Abel & [4]Ralf Kaehler
                        ([5]KIPAC, [6]SLAC), [7]AMNH

   Explanation: Is our universe haunted? It might look that way on this
   [8]dark matter map. The gravity of unseen [9]dark matter is the leading
   explanation for why [10]galaxies rotate so fast, why [11]galaxies orbit
   clusters so fast, why [12]gravitational lenses so strongly deflect
   light, and why [13]visible matter is distributed as it is both [14]in
   the local universe and [15]on the cosmic [16]microwave background. The
   featured image from the [17]American Museum of Natural History's
   [18]Hayden Planetarium Space Show Dark Universe highlights one example
   of how pervasive dark matter might haunt our universe. In this frame
   from a [19]detailed computer simulation, complex filaments of dark
   matter, shown in black, are strewn [20]about the universe like
   [21]spider webs, while the relatively rare clumps of familiar
   [22]baryonic matter are colored orange. [23]These simulations are good
   statistical matches to astronomical observations. In what is perhaps a
   scarier turn of events, [24]dark matter -- although quite strange and
   in an [25]unknown form -- is no longer thought to be the strangest
   source of [26]gravity in the universe. That honor now falls to [27]dark
   energy, a more uniform source of [28]repulsive gravity that seems to
   now dominate the expansion of the entire universe.

              Explore Your Universe: [29]Random APOD Generator
                       Tomorrow's picture: anti-comet
     __________________________________________________________________

      [30]< | [31]Archive | [32]Submissions | [33]Index | [34]Search |
   [35]Calendar | [36]RSS | [37]Education | [38]About APOD | [39]Discuss |
                                    [40]>
     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [41]Robert Nemiroff ([42]MTU) & [43]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([44]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [45]Specific rights apply.
            [46]NASA Web Privacy, [47]Accessibility, [48]Notices;
                A service of: [49]ASD at [50]NASA / [51]GSFC,
                         [52]NASA Science Activation
                           & [53]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/DarkMatter_KipacAmnh_1200.jpg
   3. https://kipac.stanford.edu/people/tom-abel
   4. https://www.slac.stanford.edu/~kaehler/
   5. https://kipac.stanford.edu/
   6. https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/
   7. https://www.amnh.org/
   8. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/dark-matter/
   9. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_matter/
  10. http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci/lectures/darkmatter.htm
  11. https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/galaxy-clusters-prove-dark-matters-existence-fd962c979458
  12. https://www.lsst.org/sites/default/files/img/xxnyt.jpg
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140512.html
  14. https://w.astro.berkeley.edu/~mwhite/models.html
  15. http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/intermediate/driving2.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130325.html
  17. https://www.amnh.org/
  18. https://www.amnh.org/research/hayden-planetarium
  19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEEg1XkbXDo
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111003.html
  21. https://www.badspiderbites.com/giant-spider-web/
  22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryon
  23. https://www.slac.stanford.edu/~kaehler/homepage/visualizations/dark-matter.html
  24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter
  25. https://home.cern/science/physics/dark-matter
  26. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AmJPh..76..265N/abstract
  27. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/dark-matter-dark-energy/
  28. http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2013/11/16/why-does-dark-energy-make-the-universe-accelerate/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241019.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  36. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  39. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241020
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241021.html
  41. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  42. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  43. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  44. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  45. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  47. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  48. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  49. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  50. https://www.nasa.gov/
  51. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  52. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  53. http://www.mtu.edu/