The Honolulu Advertiser Map of interconnected webs shows distribution of dark matter. The blue disks are images of distant galaxies. Furthermore, they have been able to create the first visual images of the invisible patterns of dark matter. Their maps show a surreal three-dimensional network of interconnected webs, suggesting how dark matter is distributed and where it is found. This is a huge advance for astronomy, he said.
Dark matter is still little understood, although it has been theorized for decades.
Astronomers have calculated that galaxies would fly apart if there were not a great deal of undetected mass creating the gravity to keep them together. It needed to be a vast amount, nearly 10 times the mass of all previously known matter. Dark matter's gravitational impact on other bodies proved it was there, but gave few other clues. Astronomers didn't know what it was, what kind of particles it consisted of, or where it was. It emitted no detectable kind of radiation, visible or otherwise.