We now know that our Universe has a “foamy” structure. The galaxies and clusters of galaxies that make up the visible Universe are concentrated in a complex scaffold that surrounds a network of enormous cosmic voids.

However, in addition to the “normal” matter that makes up the visible parts of the Universe, scientists have discovered that there are vast amounts of unseen matter.

This so-called, “dark matter” makes up roughly 22% of the matter-energy content of the Universe, while the visible pieces account for only about 4% of the total.

Clearly, if we hope to understand the structure of the Universe and the processes by which it formed and evolves, we must first understand the distribution of this important but unseen dark matter and the ways in which it interacts with and influences normal matter. ... Full Text

Black Holes

The black hole is huge about 100 million times the mass of our sun. Its gravitational force is strong enough to prevent light or anything else from escaping. The black holes in the Universe do not emit any detectable type of light. However, astronomers can still find them and learn a lot about them. We can measure the speed of the star by studying the visible light that it emits. Knowledge of this speed can be combined with the laws of gravity. ... Full Text

Cosmic Journey

How do planets, stars, galaxies and cosmic structure come into being? In order to understand how the Universe has changed from its initial simple state following the Big Bang into the magnificent Universe we see as we look at the night sky, we must understand how stars, galaxies and planets are formed. ... Full Text