"CT Scan" of Distant Universe Reveals Cosmic Web in 3D

A team led by astronomers from the MPI for Astronomy has created the first three-dimensional map of the "adolescent" Universe, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Applying a new technique analogous to x-ray computer-tomographic (CT) imaging, the researchers measured the light from a dense grid of distant background galaxies probing the Universe from multiple locations, and then constructed a 3D map of the intervening matter. This map, millions of light years across, provides a tantalizing glimpse of large structures in the "cosmic web", which forms the backbone of cosmic structure.