Researchers using data from Fast Radio Bursts have located the universe’s missing ordinary matter and mapped its distribution around galaxies.

The findings challenge simulations that showed matter tightly hugging galaxies and instead align with contributions from energetic galactic processes, such as exploding stars and activity from supermassive black holes pushing matter outward.

Lead researcher Dr. Haochen Wang says the results suggest the universe is not as empty as once thought, with ordinary matter spread more widely and capable of shaping cosmological models.

The team emphasizes ongoing work, with planned follow-up experiments and more data to refine the map of missing matter and its implications for galaxy activity and cosmic structure.

Latest results show ordinary matter extending far beyond galactic centers, with gas clouds reaching about 4 million light years from galaxies, far beyond the typical galactic span.

Since 2007, FRBs were known to alter their wavelength when passing through ordinary matter, and the CHIME telescope in British Columbia provided new data and tools to locate that matter.

Analyzing nearly 3,000 FRBs, the team compared observed wavelength changes to various cosmic locations and produced maps highlighting where ordinary matter accumulates, especially around individual galaxies.