![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Low-Res_contour_map.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA new, highly detailed map powered by JWST data reveals the invisible dark matter structure of our universe. By tracking how gravity bends light, researchers mapped out where invisible mass is located. The contours show regions of equal density and the blue colors mark the highest concentrations of dark matter in this 0.54-square-degree section of sky. Credit: Dr Gavin Leroy\/COSMOS-Webb collaboration\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Scientists are shining a brighter light on dark matter thanks to a new high-resolution map, unveiling the invisible material that shapes everything we see.<\/p>\n
Using James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s (JWST) imaging from the COSMOS-Web survey, a team of researchers created a high-resolution map of the universe\u2019s dark matter over a contiguous 0.54-square-degree area of the sky \u2014 the largest map of its kind. The new map, created by looking at how the gravity from this invisible matter warps space around it, has twice the detail of its predecessors, revealing galaxy clusters, strands of dark matter, and even hidden faint galaxy groups that were previously unseen. The team\u2019s findings were published<\/a> Jan. 26 in Nature Astronomy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe map shows the dark matter backbone of the universe in much finer detail than ever before in the COSMOS-Web field,\u201d Diana Scognamiglio, a cosmologist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-lead author of the study, tells Astronomy. \u201cIt reveals where dark matter is concentrated in galaxy clusters, how those clusters are connected, and where large empty regions lie. For the first time over a wide area, we can see the small-scale structure of the cosmic web and even detect mass concentrations that were not visible in earlier maps.\u201d<\/p>\n How to see in the dark<\/p>\n According to the current standard cosmological model, called Lambda-CDM or \u039bCDM, dark matter accounts for around 85 percent of the universe\u2019s matter and serves as its scaffolding. Its gravitational pull influences where the normal matter in our universe congregates and can even hold its structures together. \u201c[T]he whole swirling cloud of dark matter around the Milky Way has enough gravity to hold our entire galaxy together. Without dark matter, the Milky Way would spin itself apart,\u201d Richard Massey, co-author and cosmologist at Durham University, said in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n But because it does not emit or absorb light, dark matter is invisible to conventional telescopes. To locate dark matter, scientists can instead use a technique called weak gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing<\/a> occurs when the light from a distant source encounters a source of mass between it and observers here on Earth. The gravity of this intervening mass bends and amplifies the light from the background source, which then appears warped to the observer. The amount of lensing depends on the intervening mass.<\/p>\n In strong gravitational lensing, the light is bent significantly, resulting in unique phenomena like arcs and rings. In weak lensing, the distortion is much smaller, instead only warping the image slightly. If scientists measure that slight distortion, they can measure the intervening mass \u2014 even if they can\u2019t see it. And if they can measure distortion effects in objects across the sky \u2014 say, in the shapes of background galaxies \u2014 they can create maps of the unseen matter: dark matter.<\/p>\n So, the more galaxies you resolve, the more dark matter you map.<\/p>\n Earlier maps of dark matter relied on observations of galaxies from ground-based telescopes or the Hubble Space Telescope. Ground-based telescopes are limited in how sharp a view of the sky they can achieve due to the blurring effects of Earth\u2019s atmosphere, typically resolving the shapes of less than 20 galaxies per square arcminute (one degree of the sky contains 60 arcminutes; one square degree of sky contains 3,600 square arcminutes). Observing from above the atmosphere, Hubble can resolve about 71 galaxies per square arcminute. But both options pale in comparison to JWST, which can resolve around 129 galaxies per square arcminute.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tThese side-by-side maps show the distribution of dark matter as mapped with HST (left) and JWST. The white contours are areas of equal dark matter density, with dark matter most highly concentrated in regions colored blue. The two maps highlight the improved resolution and accuracy of mapping dark matter with JWST versus HST. Credit: Dr Gavin Leroy\/Professor Richard Massey\/COSMOS-Webb collaboration<\/p>\n Bridges and nodes\u00a0<\/p>\n The new JWST map results from the measurement of around 250,000 galaxies within a region of sky 0.54 square degrees in size. It reveals a complex map that includes a network of filamentary bridgelike features stretching between galaxy clusters. These strands of dark matter appear to act as a skeletal system along which gas and galaxies are distributed. The map also identified never-before-seen low-mass galaxy groups that were too far or too faint to identify with other telescopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFilaments are like the strands of a giant cosmic spider web. The thick knots in the web are galaxy clusters, and the strands between them are filaments. In the \u039bCDM model, dark matter collapses under gravity to form this web, and ordinary matter \u2014 gas and galaxies \u2014 follows along these filaments,\u201d Scognamiglio says.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Low-Res_Comparisoncontours-vGL.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/darkmatter-kipacamnh-1200.webp.webp\")
Dark matter forms the universe\u2019s invisible scaffolding, creating a vast cosmic web, as shown in this digital simulation. Glowing yellow areas are the densest clumps of dark matter, inside which galaxies and galaxy clusters form. Credit: Ralf Kaehler\/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, American Museum of Natural History<\/p>\n