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See the Most Detailed Map of Dark Matter Ever Made, Bringing Astronomers a Step Closer to Unraveling Its Mysterious Nature
The James Webb Space Telescope mapped dark matter over 0.54 square degrees, identifying about 800,000 galaxies, doubling previous Hubble survey counts, researchers said.
- On January 26, 2026, researchers unveiled an ultra-high-resolution dark matter map based on James Webb Space Telescope observations in Nature Astronomy, twice as sharp as previous maps using fresh COSMOS field data.
- By analyzing tiny distortions in 129 galaxies per square arcminute, researchers used weak gravitational lensing to reveal dark matter’s gravity pulling ordinary matter into early universe clumps.
- Using about 255 hours of Webb data, JWST's Near‑Infrared Camera mapped nearly 800,000 galaxies across 0.54 square degrees in the constellation Sextans, spanning two and a half times the width of the full Moon.
- Upcoming observatories such as ESA's Euclid and NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will map dark matter over larger areas, while the COSMOS-Webb collaboration plans follow-up observations using the high-resolution benchmark.
- By revealing the invisible scaffolding, the map confirms dark matter tightly connects to visible matter and holds the Milky Way together, enabling galaxies, stars and life to emerge.
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Nasa’s new dark matter map
A new high-resolution map of distant galaxies may finally help scientists understand a mysterious substance that binds the universe together.Taken by Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope, the latest images, published as part of a study in the journal Nature Astronomy, include information on new galaxy clusters dating back 10 billion years and, crucially, the strands of so-called “dark matter” that connect them.‘Getting closer to unmasking dark matt…
·Washington, United States
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Total News Sources20
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution83% Center
Bias Distribution
- 83% of the sources are Center
83% Center
L 17%
C 83%
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