NEW YORK – A groundbreaking map offering a detailed view of galaxies far away could provide scientists with new insights into the elusive dark matter that plays a crucial role in holding the universe together.

While the universe is filled with ordinary matter—such as stars, planets, and living beings—this accounts for a mere 5% of its total composition. For years, scientists have sought to unravel the mystery of dark matter, which constitutes over a quarter of the universe. Complementing this is dark energy, an equally enigmatic force making up the remainder.

Dark matter is notoriously difficult to study directly because it neither emits nor absorbs light. However, its gravitational effects on surrounding celestial bodies can be observed, particularly in how it distorts the light from distant galaxies. By analyzing these distortions, researchers can inch closer to uncovering the secrets of dark matter.

The newest map, crafted using images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, sets a new standard in detail over such a vast area of space. Boasting double the resolution of earlier maps made with the Hubble Space Telescope, it reveals hundreds of thousands of galaxies spanning the last 10 billion years.

“We now have an unprecedented level of clarity,” remarked Diana Scognamiglio, a study author from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The latest map, published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, includes information on new galaxy clusters and the strands of dark matter that connect them. Piece by piece, these structures help form the skeleton of the universe. Scientists can study this map to see how dark matter has clumped up over billions of years.

Dark matter doesn’t have much of an impact on your midday lunch order or your nightly bedtime ritual. But it silently passes through your body all the time and has shaped the universe.

As humans, we’re naturally curious to know more about where we come from and that story can’t be told without dark matter, said astrophysicist Rutuparna Das with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

“Our home is the universe and we want to understand what the nature of it is,” said Das, who was not involved with the new study.

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