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News Release 06-120

Astronomers 'See' the Invisible

First 'direct observation' sheds new light on dark matter

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The separation of luminous gas appears red, and dark matter appears blue.

In this image, the luminous gas from the collision (red) lags behind the two clusters of dark matter (blue).

Credit: Marusa Bradac, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology


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colliding galaxy clusters

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Hot, luminous gas (red) separates from dark matter (blue) after the collision of two galaxy clusters about 3 billion light years away.

Credit: NASA