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Mapping Dark Matter and Dark Energy with a cosmic filter
The cosmic microwave background — light left over from immediately after the big bang — could be used to map out the structure of the universe, thus uncovering the secrets of dark matter and dark energy.
The patterning of the earliest known light in our universe — the cosmic microwave background (CMB)— holds many important clues to the development and distribution of large-scale structures such as galaxies and galaxy clusters.
Distortions in the CMB — emitted 380,000 years after the big bang — caused by a phenomenon known as lensing, can reveal the fine structure of the universe. This also means it can potentially tell us things about the mysterious, unseen ‘dark universe’ — dark energy, which makes up about 68% of the universe and accounts for its accelerating expansion, and dark matter — which accounts for about 27% of the universe.
The Universe from the bottom of a swimming pool
Imagine the Universe as a grid pattern printed on the bottom of a swimming pool. The gravitational effects of matter and energy are added in much like water filling the pool. We view the bottom through the water — stretched and…