Hubble image archive

Hubble Looks for Missing Matter

This illustration shows how the Hubble Space Telescope searches for missing ordinary matter, called baryons, by looking at the light from quasars several billion light-years away. Imprinted on that light are the spectral fingerprints of the missing ordinary matter that absorbs th...

Date
Jan 1, 2008
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2008-20-2347-image
By

This illustration shows how the Hubble Space Telescope searches for missing ordinary matter, called baryons, by looking at the light from quasars several billion light-years away. Imprinted on that light are the spectral fingerprints of the missing ordinary matter that absorbs the light at specific frequencies (shown in the colorful spectra at right). The missing baryonic matter helps trace out the structure of intergalactic space, called the "cosmic web."

Credits

NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

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