Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 October 31 [2]The picture shows a computer simulation of the matter distribution in our universe with dark matter shown in a dark color on a light background. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe Illustration Credit & Copyright: [3]Tom Abel & [4]Ralf Kaehler ([5]KIPAC, [6]SLAC), [7]AMNH Explanation: Is our universe haunted? It might look that way on this [8]dark matter map. The gravity of unseen [9]dark matter is the leading explanation for why [10]galaxies rotate so fast, why [11]galaxies orbit clusters so fast, why [12]gravitational lenses so strongly deflect light, and why [13]visible matter is distributed as it is both [14]in the local universe and [15]on the cosmic [16]microwave background. The featured image from the [17]American Museum of Natural History's [18]Hayden Planetarium Space Show [19]Dark Universe highlights one example of how pervasive dark matter might haunt our universe. In this frame from a [20]detailed computer simulation, complex filaments of dark matter, shown in black, are strewn [21]about the universe like [22]spider webs, while the relatively rare clumps of familiar [23]baryonic matter are colored orange. [24]These simulations are good statistical matches to astronomical observations. In what is perhaps a scarier turn of events, [25]dark matter -- although quite strange and in an [26]unknown form -- is no longer thought to be the strangest source of [27]gravity in the universe. That honor now falls to [28]dark energy, a more uniform source of [29]repulsive gravity that seems to now dominate the expansion of the entire universe. Not only Halloween: [30]Today is Dark Matter Day. Tomorrow's picture: waterfall milky way __________________________________________________________________ [31]< | [32]Archive | [33]Submissions | [34]Index | [35]Search | [36]Calendar | [37]RSS | [38]Education | [39]About APOD | [40]Discuss | [41]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [42]Robert Nemiroff ([43]MTU) & [44]Jerry Bonnell ([45]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [46]Specific rights apply. [47]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [48]ASD at [49]NASA / [50]GSFC & [51]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2110/DarkMatter_KipacAmnh_1200.jpg 3. https://kipac.stanford.edu/people/tom-abel 4. https://www.slac.stanford.edu/~kaehler/ 5. https://kipac.stanford.edu/ 6. https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/ 7. https://www.amnh.org/ 8. https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/what-is-dark-matter.html 9. https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_matter/ 10. http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci/lectures/darkmatter.htm 11. https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/galaxy-clusters-prove-dark-matters-existence-fd962c979458 12. https://www.lsst.org/sites/default/files/img/xxnyt.jpg 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140512.html 14. https://w.astro.berkeley.edu/~mwhite/models.html 15. http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/intermediate/driving2.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130325.html 17. https://www.amnh.org/ 18. https://www.amnh.org/research/hayden-planetarium 19. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/space-show/dark-universe/ 20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEEg1XkbXDo 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111003.html 22. https://www.badspiderbites.com/giant-spider-web/ 23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baryon 24. https://www.slac.stanford.edu/~kaehler/homepage/visualizations/dark-matter.html 25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter 26. https://home.cern/science/physics/dark-matter 27. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AmJPh..76..265N/abstract 28. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy 29. http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2013/11/16/why-does-dark-energy-make-the-universe-accelerate/ 30. https://www.darkmatterday.com/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211030.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 40. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211031 41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211101.html 42. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 43. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 44. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 45. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 46. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 47. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 48. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 49. https://www.nasa.gov/ 50. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 51. http://www.mtu.edu/