XMM-Newton discovers part of missing matter in the Universe



 
Flight through the evolving cosmic structure (filament) which connects several galaxy clusters. The gas between the galaxy clusters is visualised in colours ranging from brown to light blue, the stars formed within the simulation are coloured from purple to white.

The first movie shows a large field of view and evolves only slowly in time. The second movie captures a fast fly through the final structure with a narrower field of view.

Abell 222 and Abell 223
 
Composite optical and X-ray image of galaxy clusters Abell 222 and Abell 223. The cluster pair is connected by a filament permeated by hot X-ray emitting gas.

The optical image was obtained by SuprimeCam at the Subaru telescope, the X-ray image showing the distribution of the diffuse hot gas (yellow to red) was obtained by XMM-Newton.

Cosmic web
 
This is a model of the cosmic web. Clusters of galaxies are expected to develop at the intersections of the web.



Release date: 20 August 2008