Astronomers have solved the decades-old 'missing baryon problem' by using fast radio bursts (FRBs) to map out previously undetectable ordinary matter. FRBs, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves, revealed that 76% of this matter exists as hot gas between galaxies, while 15% resides in galactic halos. This discovery, published in Nature Astronomy, utilized data from various telescopes, including the Deep Synoptic Array. The ability to track FRBs allows astronomers to measure the matter they pass through, providing a new way to understand the universe's structure and galaxy evolution.

Prepared by Olivia Bennett and reviewed by editorial team.