An international team of researchers has obtained an unprecedented image of a cosmic filament connecting two actively forming galaxies. It existed at a time when the age of the Universe was about 2 billion years old.
One of the pillars of modern cosmology is the existence of dark matter, which makes up about 85% of all matter in the Universe. Under the influence of gravity, dark matter forms a complex cosmic web of filaments, at the intersections of which the brightest galaxies arise. This web is the foundation upon which all visible structures in the Universe are built. Inside the filaments flows gas that fuels star formation in galaxies.
Direct observations of this gas would allow scientists to better understand the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, its study is incredibly difficult. Even the most common element, hydrogen, emits only a faint glow, making it virtually impossible to observe directly with previous-generation instruments.
To solve this problem, an international team of scientists used the MUSE spectrograph on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. But even with its capabilities, the research team had to conduct one of the most extensive surveillance campaigns ever, collecting data for hundreds of hours.
As a result, astronomers were able to get one of the clearest images of the cosmic filament to date. It existed at a time when the age of the Universe was only 2 billion years old. The filament spans 3 million light years and connects two galaxies, each containing an active supermassive black hole.
The researchers then used supercomputer simulations of the Universe to compare the calculated appearance of the filament and its actual image. To their relief, they found substantial agreement between existing theory and reality. In the future, the scientists intend to continue observations to discover more such structures and gain a better understanding of them.
According to Phys.org
