The lost matter of the universe found in the Cosmic Web.

Although the universe contains billions of galaxies, only a small amount of matter is locked up in these huge structures. Most of the material world that formed during and immediately after the Big Bang must be located elsewhere.

University of Colorado at Boulder, finally found the missing half of the normal matter, ie varyonia, the intervals between the galaxies. This important component of the world known as diagalaxiako means and extends substantially throughout the period, from just outside our galaxy to the most remote regions of space.

The left image shows how sought the Hubble telescope missed the usual matter, the varyonia, observing the light from the kvazar several billion light years away from us. In this light reflected the spectral fingerprints of lost normal matter, which absorbs light at specific frequencies presented in colorful spectra right. The varyoniki wasted material helps to detect the structure of diagalaxiakou space, called the "Cosmic Web."

The questions "where did the neighboring varyonia, and what are their properties?" Have now answered with greater certainty than ever before. "We see that the essential threads of a structure like the spider web, which forms the backbone of the World," emphasizes Professor Mike Shull. "Confirmed in detail that diagalaxiako space, which intuitively seems to be empty, is in fact the reservoir for most of the normal, varyonikis matter in the World."

The Hubble observations made nearly a decade ago by Todd Tripp initially reported the discovery of the hottest segment of the material lost in the local cosmic neighborhood. That study used the spectroscopic observations of a kvazar to search for diagalaxiako gas, which absorbs certain wavelengths of radiation in the kvazar course.

Writing in the Astrophysical Journal doctoral student Charles Danforth and Mike Shull of astrophysical sciences and global section of Boulder, submitted a report on observations taken along the line connecting the Earth with 28 kvazar. The analysis was probably the most detailed examination to date was diagalaxiakis matter of approximately a size 4 billion light years, explains the Shull.

The varyonia are protons, neutrons and other particles that make ypoatomika ordinary matter such as hydrogen, helium and other heavier elements. Varyoniki The material forming the stars, the planets, the moons and the diastriko gas and dust from which new stars are made, "says Shull. The astronomers warn that the missing material varyoniki should not be confused with "dark matter," a mysterious and exotic form of matter which is detected only through its gravitational pull of. According to current theory the universe consists of dark energy, dark matter and varyoniki material. The dark energy corresponds to 72% of the Universe, the dark matter in 23% and the material varyoniki 5%.

Right: dark matter fibers unite the space between galaxies in a simulation of the world showing a region of space in width, about 1.5 billion light years. Using ultraviolet light from distant kvazar, the astronomers have found nearly 40 percent shortfall of "normal" matter in the world, in hot gas around these fibers.

The Danforth and Shull searched for the lost material varyoniki using the light coming from distant kvazar - the brilliant cores of galaxies with active black holes - to consider gossamery structure - like the Web - that permeates the seemingly invisible space between galaxies, like a flashlight that shines through the fog.

Using fasmatografo imaging is on the space telescope Hubble, FUSE and NASA of the astronomers found hot gases - mostly hydrogen and oxygen - the diagalaxiakou space. The two spacecraft helped the researchers to find the spectral "fingerprints" of oxygen and hydrogen (absorption lines), on the continuous spectra of radiation of kvazar.

The irradiation kvazar found to penetrate more than 650 fiber hydrogen in cosmic web. Eighty-three fibers were found associated with highly ionized oxygen in which five electrons have been removed, explains Shull.

The presence of highly ionized oxygen and other elements between the galaxies seen that shows that large quantities of invisible, hot ionized hydrogen in the world. These huge tanks of hydrogen were not detected until now because it is too hot to be seen in visible light, and thus very cool to see the rays X, said the researchers.

The ionized oxygen probably created when stars in galaxies after the explosion, the spread in oxygen diagalaxiako period where mixed with a fiery collision with hydrogen, when the temperature rose to very high levels, explains Shull. The team also found that about 20 percent of varyonion residing in the gaps between the cosmic fiber.

Within these voids could be dwarf galaxies or rovings of material that could be converted into stars and galaxies billions of years, say researchers.

Examination of the vast secular web is the most basic goal for the Cosmic Fasmatografo Detection (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS), a body of 70 million made by the university in Boulder to investigate the short-distant galaxies and the World. The astronauts plan to install the instrument in Hubble during a f

Unexplained phenomena - World mysteries

The lost matter of the universe found in the Cosmic Web.

Although the universe contains billions of galaxies, only a small amount of matter is locked up in these huge structures. Most of the material world that formed during and immediately after the Big Bang must be located elsewhere.