🕸️🕸️ The Universe Looks Like a Giant Spider Web
Astronomers believe the early universe was almost perfectly smooth. Tiny differences in density gradually pulled in more matter through gravity, forming a vast Cosmic Web that resembles a giant spider web. Made mostly of dark matter, this enormous network of filaments forms the large-scale backbone of the universe today.
This image combines 18 Hubble observations of the galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745.
By studying how gravity bends the light from distant galaxies, astronomers discovered a dark matter filament extending from the cluster’s core. Shown in blue, the filament stretches to the left of the cluster and was mapped in 3D for the first time using Hubble and ground-based telescopes.
Credit: NASA, ESA