Universe's missing matter "located"

[Maol]

"A new landmark study has pinpointed the location of the universe's "missing" matter, and detected the most distant fast radio burst (FRB) on record. Using FRBs as a guide, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and Caltech have shown that more than three-quarters of the universe's ordinary matter has been hiding in the thin gas between galaxies, marking a major step forward in understanding how matter interacts and behaves in the universe."

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-astronome ... verse.html

[Maol]

This discovery puts it on the ropes so they are tactfully avoiding using the "dark" adjective.

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-astronome ... sters.html



Clocking in at over 10 million degrees, the filament contains around 10 times the mass of the Milky Way and connects four galaxy clusters: two on one end, two on the other. All are part of the Shapley Supercluster, a collection of more than 8,000 galaxies that forms one of the most massive structures in the nearby universe.

The filament stretches diagonally away from us through the supercluster for 23 million light-years, the equivalent of traversing the Milky Way end to end around 230 times.

[nick c]

All are part of the Shapley Supercluster, a collection of more than 8,000 galaxies that forms one of the most massive structures in the nearby universe.

It's ironic that the super cluster is named after 20th C astronomer Harlow Shapley. Shapley was a very influential Harvard astronomer who argued, quite erroneously, that spiral nebula like M31 in Andromeda were actually objects within the Milky Way. In fact he argued that the Milky Way was the entire universe! Apparently, Harlow was wrong about a lot of things.

[Phorce]

Is this the same discovery as "'The Models Were Right!' Astronomers Locate Universe's 'Missing' Matter" ?

It has the usual "hot gas" misnomer yet suggests a hopeful shift towards acknowledging Plasma.

I won't be holding my breath through as we've seen this before, but you never know I can see it now ...

"The breakthrough ! The Universe runs on electricity and the answer was Plasma all long !".

Of course Electric Universe and Wall Thornhill will be mentioned no where. But I'll still be celebrating

[galaxy12]

"A new landmark study has pinpointed the location of the universe's "missing" matter, and detected the most distant fast radio burst (FRB) on record. Using FRBs as a guide, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and Caltech have shown that more than three-quarters of the universe's ordinary matter has been hiding in the thin gas between galaxies, marking a major step forward in understanding how matter interacts and behaves in the universe."

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-astronome ... verse.html

And if we assume a greater amount of gas between galaxies, we have to recalculate the amount of redshift that is due to light's interaction with gas. Since gas in very low densities preferentially interacts with higher frequency light, we may find that most of redshift can be explained by light's interaction with gas between galaxies.

[Maol]

Is this the same discovery as "'The Models Were Right!' Astronomers Locate Universe's 'Missing' Matter" ?

It has the usual "hot gas" misnomer yet suggests a hopeful shift towards acknowledging Plasma.

I won't be holding my breath through as we've seen this before, but you never know I can see it now ...

"The breakthrough ! The Universe runs on electricity and the answer was Plasma all long !".

Of course Electric Universe and Wall Thornhill will be mentioned no where. But I'll still be celebrating

Anybody with a functioning brain knows 10 Million Degrees = Ionized Plasma

"Clocking in at over 10 million degrees, the filament contains around 10 times the mass of the Milky Way and connects four galaxy clusters:"

[jacmac]

Yes to all the above posts.
They, being unwilling to get near the words "electricity in space," don't even want to use "plasma."
After understanding that very high temperatures means charged particles they are going with "hot gas"
as a substitute for plasma.
"Finding" all this matter in the inter galactic medium (IGM) actually does not solve
the rotation rate of galaxies problem; does it ?? !! One would think hidden mass, able to slow galaxy
rotation rates, should be mostly within the galaxy ?? At least not strung out in super distances that make up the cosmic web.
The resistance to cutting loose "gravity does everything" is great !

[nick c]

it is human nature, that when confronted with something that is too frightening to face, it is a common reaction to use a word that softens the impact of the offensive consideration. That is called a euphemism.

"Hot gas", "solar wind", "radiation", are some of the euphemisms used to avoid dealing with electricity in space.

[Maol]

Yes to all the above posts.
They, being unwilling to get near the words "electricity in space," don't even want to use "plasma."
After understanding that very high temperatures means charged particles they are going with "hot gas"
as a substitute for plasma.
"Finding" all this matter in the inter galactic medium (IGM) actually does not solve
the rotation rate of galaxies problem; does it ?? !! One would think hidden mass, able to slow galaxy
rotation rates, should be mostly within the galaxy ?? At least not strung out in super distances that make up the cosmic web.
The resistance to cutting loose "gravity does everything" is great !

As I interpret this "found the missing matter" situation, the newly found matter is a solution to the missing matter problem which required the "dark matter" gnome to supply the required gravity to satisfy the rotation problem of "why do the galaxies rotate the way they do when the observable matter is insufficient to supply the necessary gravity to balance the mass = gravity = velocity / too much x not enough (heretofore) observed mass for happy math equations, when the observed rotation requires more matter than appears to exist? (or some such)

In other words aren't "they" saying ?, "!! Eureka !! We have found it* !! The missing mass was there all along, so dark this and that was only a place holder and now is no longer necessary."

*(it, formerly known as "dark matter")

[jacmac]

Yes, their finding new matter is offered to solve the "missing matter" problem.
I am pointing out that one cannot solve the spiral galaxy rotation rate problem
by identifying new matter that is not inside the rotating galaxy.

They invented dark matter because given the estimated mass in each galaxy the rotation rate is to high.
The galaxy should be flying apart. Because it is not, there must be more mass holding the galaxy together.
Since all spiral galaxies have this problem they all need more matter within each galaxy.
If their GRAVITY ONLY model is going to work they have to find more gravity in the right places !
Spread out in long filaments of plasma in between galaxies will not work. IMO

[Maol]

Yes, their finding new matter is offered to solve the "missing matter" problem.
I am pointing out that one cannot solve the spiral galaxy rotation rate problem
by identifying new matter that is not inside the rotating galaxy.

They invented dark matter because given the estimated mass in each galaxy the rotation rate is to high.
The galaxy should be flying apart. Because it is not, there must be more mass holding the galaxy together.
Since all spiral galaxies have this problem they all need more matter within each galaxy.
If their GRAVITY ONLY model is going to work they have to find more gravity in the right places !
Spread out in long filaments of plasma in between galaxies will not work. IMO

I knew that, but ... because the article says,

"The results were clear: Approximately 76% of the universe's baryonic matter lies in the IGM. About 15% resides in galaxy halos, and a small fraction is burrowed in stars or amid cold galactic gas.

This distribution lines up with predictions from advanced cosmological simulations, but has never been directly confirmed until now."

So I thought the gas residing in the halo, cold galactic gas and stars was being described as providing the mass to a galaxy deemed necessary to supply the 'missing gravity' within the individual galaxies.

I recognize the rotation speed depends on the radial distribution of the mass, so I guess mass at the OD, while it contributes to the inertial 'flywheel effect', has less effect on the angular velocity than if it were more centrally located.

[jacmac]

Thanks Moal,
We were on different places on THE SAME page.

[Maol]

You're welcome Jamcac.

However:

This distribution lines up with predictions from advanced cosmological simulations, but has never been directly confirmed until now."

Somewhat of a rhetorical question, or to reiterate... Isn't this an admission the simulations are those which prognosticated the need for "missing mass" and from that arose the invention of the "dark matter" gnome gibberish to fulfill the requirement for that mass to satisfy the math in the simulations, and so this "discovery" has found the missing mass which wasn't missing at all and therefor is an admission the "dark" gibberish was imaginary nonsense.

[Maol]

And further from the article in the OP link:

By measuring how much each FRB signal was slowed down as it passed through space, Connor and his team tracked the gas along its journey. "FRBs act as cosmic flashlights," Connor, who is also an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard, said. "They shine through the fog of the intergalactic medium, and by precisely measuring how the light slows down, we can weigh that fog, even when it's too faint to see."

"light slows down" Doesn't this slowed down light result in red shift?

[jacmac]

One would think. Originally called "tired light."