Scientists discover universe's missing matter through FRBs
Scientists have solved a cosmic mystery by finding the universe's missing ordinary matter—called baryons—using fast radio bursts (FRBs). This hidden stuff was scattered between galaxies and around them, making it tough to spot until now.
How scientists mapped the hidden baryons
FRBs are super-short flashes of radio waves from faraway galaxies. By seeing how these signals slow down as they pass through space, astronomers could map out where all that invisible matter was hiding. It's like using cosmic Wi-Fi lag to weigh what we can't see.
Where the missing baryons were hiding
Turns out, about 76% of normal matter hangs out in the vast spaces between galaxies, 15% sits in halos around galaxies, and just 9% is inside galaxies themselves. These results finally match up with what computer models predicted—and give us our first real proof of where the universe stashed its missing stuff.