"Understanding the constituency of the universe is of course a fundamental question in astronomy," Ellis pointed out.
He recalled that researchers have long suspected that "there is a lot of hot gas out in deep space and between the galaxies."
According to Ellis, as it often happens in astronomy, theoreticians insisted the gas is there, while observers found it very difficult to verify the information.
Ellsi said that these teams published their results within a week from each other and "completely independently", taking "a map of the galaxy distribution" and looking at "the volume of space in between these galaxies."
The expert underscored that the researchers managed "to stack statistically" a signal between the galaxies and see a very significant result.
The Mystery of the Universe's Missing 'Normal' Matter Has Begun to Unravel https://t.co/3IygaNp7Y5
— Branden Raulston (@BrandenRaulston) 18 октября 2017 г.
"I think it is a triumph of statistics and is a very clever method that has eluded astronomers for many years," he added.
At the same time, he warned it is certainly "not the end of the story" because researchers should move forward and try to understand how these hot gasses have remained out there for so long."
