(© Image: Nasa) - The shape of galaxies and how they evolve depend on a web of cosmological filaments that run across the Universe. According to a recent study headed by EPFL's Laboratory of Astrophysics, this cosmic web plays a much bigger role than previously thought. Across the Universe, galaxies are distributed along what's called the cosmic web, a complex network of filaments made up of ordinary and dark matter. And where those filaments intersect, galaxy clusters - collections of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies bound to each other by the force of gravity - tend to form. They are the biggest and densest clusters in the Universe and are the subject of much research by astrophysicists. But precisely how filaments contribute to galactic evolution is still poorly understood. To get deeper insight, an international team of scientists led by Prof. Pascale Jablonka and Gianluca Castignani from EPFL's Laboratory of Astrophysics (LASTRO) examined the vast environment surrounding Virgo, a representative cluster in the local Universe.
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