{"id":50187,"date":"2023-09-29T14:20:19","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T14:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1b1737ae-6a49-4ab1-b4d6-eba57fd25717"},"modified":"2023-10-11T15:32:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T15:32:31","slug":"mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious rivers between the stars mapped for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"> <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By Ezzy Pearson\n      <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Friday, 29 September 2023 at 14:20 PM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>Astronomers have finally succeeded in mapping the Cosmic Web, the network of gas that stretches between galaxies, for the first time.<\/p><p>Streams of gas thread through the cosmos, feeding into galaxies like rivers flowing into an ocean.<\/p><p>These connect together to form <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/astronomers-observe-ripples-in-the-cosmic-web\">the Cosmic Web<\/a>.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mapping mysterious rivers between the stars\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/guqeHOKNPMQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p>Until now, astronomers have only be able to glimpse the Web when a nearby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-science\/quasars\">quasar<\/a> illuminates the gas.<\/p><p>However, this left the thin filaments between galaxies in the dark.<\/p><p>A more complete map would allow astronomers to better understand how galaxies form.<\/p><p>It also helps track the cosmic distribution of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/what-is-dark-matter\">dark matter<\/a> \u2013 which makes up 85 per cent of all matter in the Universe.<\/p><p>\u201cThe Cosmic Web delineates the architecture of our universe,\u201d says Martin \u201cIt\u2019s where most of the normal, or baryonic, matter in our galaxy resides and directly traces the location of dark matter.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A supercomputer simulation showing part of the cosmic web 11.5 billion years ago. The cube is 24 million lightyears on a side.Image: J. Onorbe \/ MPIA<\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 id=\"h-mapping-the-cosmic-web\">Mapping the Cosmic Web<\/h2><p>A team of astronomers from Caltech tracked these faint streams using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-science\/the-keck-observatorys-top-five-discoveries\">the Keck Observatory<\/a> on Mauna Kea in Hawai\u2019i.<\/p><p>\u201cBefore this latest finding, we saw the filamentary structures under the equivalent of a lamppost,\u201d says Christopher Martin, who led the study. \u201cNow we can see them without a lamp.\u201d<\/p><p>The team used the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). This could pick out a specific wavelength of light made by hydrogen within the streams called the Lyman alpha line.<\/p><p>For distant galaxies, this line will have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-science\/redshift\">redshifted<\/a>. The expansion of the Universe will have stretched the light&#8217;s wavelength, making it redder.<\/p><p>The team used Keck to take thousands of spectra, which captured light across a range of wavelengths. This allowed them to find the Lyman alpha signatures at a variety of different redshifts.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/02\/Universe-Redshift-135f961-e1661414636400.jpeg\" alt=\"A NASA image showing how wavelengths of light are stretched - or redshifted - as the Universe expands. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)\" class=\"wp-image-104800\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A NASA image showing how wavelengths of light are stretched &#8211; or redshifted &#8211; as the Universe expands. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/\/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>\u201cWe are basically creating a 3D map of the cosmic web,\u201d says Martin. \u201cWe take spectra for every point in an image at range of wavelengths, and the wavelengths translate to distance.\u201d<\/p><p>The observations were only possible now thanks to the addition of the Keck Cosmic Reionisation Mapper, which can see to even longer, redder wavelengths.<\/p><p>\u00a0\u201cWith KCRM, the newly deployed red channel of KCWI, we can see even farther into the past,\u201d says senior instrument scientist Mateusz Matuszewski. \u201cWe are very excited about what this new tool will help us learn about the more distant filaments and the era when the first stars and black holes formed.\u201d<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ezzy Pearson Published: Friday, 29 September 2023 at 14:20 PM Astronomers have finally succeeded in mapping the Cosmic Web, the network of gas that stretches between galaxies, for the first time. Streams of gas thread through the cosmos, feeding into galaxies like rivers flowing into an ocean. These connect together to form the Cosmic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50188,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time.jpg",1024,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time.jpg",800,450,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time.jpg",1024,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2023\/10\/mysterious-rivers-between-the-stars-mapped-for-the-first-time.jpg",1024,576,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Friday, 29 September 2023 at 14:20 PM Astronomers have finally succeeded in mapping the Cosmic Web, the network of gas that stretches between galaxies, for the first time. Streams of gas thread through the cosmos, feeding into galaxies like rivers flowing into an ocean. These connect together to form the Cosmic&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}