FROM COSMOS
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All episodes/Episode 1.3

Episode 1.3 · 26 min

Dark Matter

Rotation curves, gravitational lensing, galaxy clusters, and the cosmic web reveal the effects of dark matter, while its identity remains unknown.

Watch this film on YouTube ↗

Visual credits

23 sources

Sources and credits for imagery used in this film, including material incorporated into explanatory animations.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

  1. Chandra Photo Album, 30 June 2025 ↗
  2. PDG 2025 Dark Matter review ↗
  3. NASA LAMBDA cosmological evolution ↗
  4. MPA MUSE filament release ↗
  5. ESO media lead ↗
  6. Millennium visualizations ↗
  7. McAlpine et al. ↗
  8. Uchuu DR1 ↗
  9. Fermilab/DESI release ↗
  10. Bertone & Hooper history ↗
  11. rubin ford 1970 ↗
  12. SPARC database ↗
  13. Begeman 1989 bibliographic record ↗
  14. National Air and Space Museum object page ↗
  15. Wikimedia Commons ↗
  16. 10 iconic photographs ↗
  17. Clowe et al., “A Direct Empirical Proof of the Existence of Dark Matter” ↗
  18. Cha et al. 2025 ↗
  19. Cho et al. ↗
  20. arXiv:2601.22245 ↗
  21. Planck 2018 VI ↗
  22. A&A version ↗
  23. PDG 2025 BBN review ↗
  24. Planck Legacy Archive spectrum page ↗
  25. 2026 review ↗
  26. Chae 2024 ↗
  27. Hernandez 2025 response ↗
  28. Cookson et al. 2026 ↗
  29. LZ preprint ↗
  30. Berkeley Lab release, 8 Dec 2025 ↗
  31. Accepted PRL paper ↗
  32. arXiv:2601.11296 ↗
  33. XLZD institutional overview ↗
  34. ESA Gaia archive ↗
  35. ESA 2026 highlights ↗
  36. Nature 563, 85 ↗
  37. ESA “Galactic ghosts” ↗
  38. MNRAS stellar-mass analysis ↗
  39. ApJL 986 L21 ↗
  40. arXiv:2606.04462 ↗
  41. Gaia all-sky Milky Way ↗
  42. Fly between Gaia stars ↗
  43. Gaia poster/data visualizations ↗
  44. https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1908e/): ↗
  45. https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2018/04/Fly_between_Gaia_stars/%28lang%29/en): ↗
  46. https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/posters): ↗
  47. Berkeley Lab/DESI, 19 March 2025 ↗
  48. DESI DR2 paper guide ↗
  49. Rubin announcement ↗
  50. The rotation curve and mass distribution of M31 ↗
  51. How dark matter came to matter ↗
  52. zwicky 1933 original ↗

Music

  • Meditation From The Star Orion
    OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements
Footage and image usage

Credits and usage times retained from the published edition or its production credit record. Where present, times identify visual appearances, not documentary chapters. Source and licence corrections are listed in the visual credits above.

  • D. Duriscoe, C. Duriscoe, R. Pilewski, & L. Pilewski, U.S. NPS Night Sky Program. - 25:56-26:13, A Dark Sky Over Sequoia National Park
  • Harvard - 0:00-0:46, bullet lg image; 5:22-5:27, Paper front page
  • NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, University of Basque Country/JHU - 8:48-9:20, Shedding Bent Light on Dark Matter
  • Noirlab - 23:09-23:21, noirlab2512b image; 24:33-24:46, noirlab2512b image
  • Unbekannt - 5:14-5:22, Zwicky, Fritz (1898-1974)
  • Custom animations and figures: From Cosmos to Civilization. Third-party material incorporated into animations is credited on the linked sources page.

How this film was made

Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.

Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.

More about the creator and production →