Scientists find universe's missing matter while watching fast radio bursts shine through 'cosmic fog'
www.space.com
"Fast radio bursts 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."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31469771

Scientists find universe’s missing matter while watching fast radio bursts shine through ‘cosmic fog’

Half of the universe’s ordinary matter was missing — until now.

Astronomers have used mysterious but powerful explosions of energy called fast radio bursts (FRBs) to detect the universe’s missing “normal” matter for the first time.

This previously missing stuff isn’t dark matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for around 85% of the material universe but remains invisible because it doesn’t interact with light. Instead, it is ordinary matter made out of atoms (composed of baryons) that does interact with light but has until now just been too dark to see.