This three-dimensional map offers a first look at the web-like large-scale distribution of dark matter, an invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the Universe's imaginary mass.
<p>The map reveals a loose network of dark matter filaments, gradually collapsing under the relentless pull of gravity, and growing clumpier over time.
</p><p>The three axes of the box correspond to sky position (in right ascension and declination), and distance from the Earth increasing from left to right (as measured by cosmological redshift). Note how the clumping of the dark matter becomes more pronounced, moving right to left across the volume map, from the early Universe to the more recent Universe.
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The distribution of mass in the Hubble Space Telescope COSMOS survey, determined from measurements of weak gravitational lensing. The field of view covers about nine times the size of the full moon, and the third dimension stretches from redshift <i>z</i>=0 to <i>z</i>=1. The figure shows one isosurface of the gravitational potential.
NASA/ESA/Richard Massey (California Institute of Technology)
<p>Originally uploaded at en.wikipedia as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:COSMOS_3D_dark_matter_map.jpg" class="extiw" title="en:File:COSMOS 3D dark matter map.jpg">File:COSMOS 3D dark matter map.jpg</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:RichardMassey" class="extiw" title="en:User:RichardMassey">User:RichardMassey</a>. (Transfered by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Quibik" title="User:Quibik">User:Quibik</a>.)<br>
Also available at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://spacetelescope.org/images/heic0701b/">http://spacetelescope.org/images/heic0701b/</a><br></p>
Isosuface data can be found at <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.roe.ac.uk/~rm/cosmos/">http://www.roe.ac.uk/~rm/cosmos/</a>