Astronomy academic sheds light on dark matter study

A CAPITAL academic who has helped to map more dark matter from around the universe than ever before is presenting her groundbreaking work at the American Astronomical Society.

Dr Catherine Heymans, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy, will exhibit the results of work completed by an international team of researchers – alongside Canadian counterpart Professor Ludovic Van Waerbeke – at the society in Austin, Texas.

Their findings reveal a universe comprised of an intricate cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies spanning more than one billion light years.

Dr Heymans said: “By analysing light from the distant universe, we can learn about what it has travelled through on its journey to reach us.

“We hope that by mapping more dark matter than has been studied before, we are a step closer to understanding this material and its relationship with the galaxies in our universe.”