baryonic matter tagged posts

Matter comprises of 31% of the Total amount of Matter and Energy in the Universe

A research team relies on measuring the number of galaxy members to determine the mass of galaxy clusters. One of the most interesting and important questions in cosmology is, “How much matter exists in the universe?” An international team, including scientists at Chiba University, has now succeeded in measuring the total amount of matter for the second time. Reporting in The Astrophysical Journal, the team determined that matter makes up 31% of the total amount of matter and energy in the universe, with the remainder consisting of dark energy.

“Cosmologists believe that only about 20% of the total matter is made of regular or ‘baryonic’ matter, which includes stars, galaxies, atoms, and life,” explains first author Dr...

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New Light on Baryonic Matter and Gravity on Cosmic Scales

The presence of ionized gas around galaxies with moves with them leaves a trace in the microwave background radiation (left panel) which can be detected knowing the pattern of velocities of the galaxies provided by the map of fluctuations in their redshift (right panel). Credit: Carlos Hernández-Monteagudo (IAC).
The presence of ionized gas around galaxies with moves with them leaves a trace in the microwave background radiation which can be detected knowing the pattern of velocities of the galaxies provided by the map. Credit: Carlos Hernández-Monteagudo (IAC).

Scientists estimate that dark matter and dark energy together are some 95% of the gravitational material in the universe while the remaining 5% is baryonic matter, which is the “normal” matter composing stars, planets and living beings. However, for decades, almost one-half of this matter has not been found. Now, using a new technique, a team including researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has shown that this “missing” baryonic matter fills the space between galaxies as hot, low-density gas...

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Longest Intergalactic Gas Filament discovered

Right click to download: Optical image
Optical image
of the Abell 3391/95 system © Reiprich et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics

Study confirms models on the evolution of our universe. Astrophysicists have for the first time observed a gas filament with a length of 50 million light years. Its structure is strikingly similar to the predictions of computer simulations. The observation therefore also confirms our ideas about the origin and evolution of our universe.

More than half of the matter in our universe has so far remained hidden from us. However, astrophysicists had a hunch where it might be: In so-called filaments, unfathomably large thread-like structures of hot gas that surround and connect galaxies and galaxy clusters...

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Milky Way: Hydrogen Halo lifts the Veil of our Galactic home

What our Milky Way might look like to alien astronomers: This image of NGC 2683, a spiral galaxy also known as the "UFO Galaxy" due to its shape, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Since trying to find out what the Milky Way looks like is a bit like trying to picture an unfamiliar house while being confined to a room inside, studies like this one help us gain a better idea of our cosmic home. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

What our Milky Way might look like to alien astronomers: This image of NGC 2683, a spiral galaxy also known as the “UFO Galaxy” due to its shape, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Since trying to find out what the Milky Way looks like is a bit like trying to picture an unfamiliar house while being confined to a room inside, studies like this one help us gain a better idea of our cosmic home. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Astronomers find missing mass in the hydrogen halo that surrounds our home galaxy. Sometimes it takes a lot of trees to see the forest. In the case of the latest discovery made by astronomers at the University of Arizona, exactly 732,225...

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