Dark Matter Revealed in Webb, Hubble Observations
Figure A
Figure B
These images show the presence of dark matter in the same region of sky, created using data from NASA’s Webb telescope in 2026 (right) and from the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007 (left). Webb’s higher resolution is providing new insights into how this invisible component influences the distribution of ordinary matter in the universe.
In Figure A, dense regions of dark matter are connected by lower-density filaments, forming a weblike structure known as the cosmic web. This pattern appears more clearly in the Webb data than in the earlier Hubble image. Ordinary matter, including galaxies, tends to trace this same underlying structure shaped by dark matter.
In Figure B, some dark matter structures appear smaller in the Webb data because they are coming into sharper focus. Webb’s higher resolution also makes it possible to better confine the size and location of the dark matter clusters in the lower left of the image.
The James Webb Space Telescope is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Webb’s MIRI was developed through a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ESA. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL led the U.S. contribution to MIRI. JPL also led development of MIRI’s cryocooler, done in collaboration with Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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