Very recently, filaments in ionized gas have been detected, by stacking their Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect, a spectral distortion that ionized gas imparts onto the primordial cosmic microwave background radiation. With weak gravitational lensing observations, large filaments of matter have been detected individually smaller filaments have been detected by stacking filament signals together. Observing the cosmic web of filaments of dark and ordinary baryonic matter between galaxies is much more difficult, but has started to happen. In the real Universe, filaments of galaxies between clusters of galaxies have been observed for some time (e.g. For more information about the cosmic web, see recent proceedings of ‘The Zeldovich Universe: Genesis and Growth of the Cosmic Web’ symposium and a comparison of ways of classifying parts of the cosmic web. Tessellation concepts have been used for some time also in cosmological data analysis (e.g. Indeed, the arrangement of matter on large scales behaves in many respects like a cellular system. The Voronoi foam concept has also been instrumental in shaping our understanding of the large-scale arrangement of matter and galaxies in the universe. Such tessellations are already crucial concepts and tools in cosmology (e.g. This similarity is through a geometric concept of a ‘spiderweb’ used in architecture and engineering, related to generalized Voronoi and Delaunay tessellations (e.g. This paper responds to ‘clearly not physical’ we explain the physical similarity between spider and cosmic webs. Referencing Saraceno’s work, Livio mentions ‘the visual (although clearly not physical) similarity between spider webs and the cosmic web’. The cosmic web and its resemblance to a spiderweb has inspired several room-sized installations by Tomás Saraceno, 2 described by Ball. These bear similarities to human-designed structures both because of human inspiration, and because the same mathematical and engineering principles apply both to nature and human design.
![cosmic web cosmic web](https://cdn.iflscience.com/images/004b7cda-e532-5372-9fa3-810d460d7d10/default-1464370425-4123-the-universe-s-missing-matter-found-within-superheated-cosmic-web-filaments.jpg)
![cosmic web cosmic web](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*X_vHG3QgZT8-vPQz_JQtRQ.jpeg)
The cosmic web has only recently been accurately mapped, but it resembles some more familiar natural structures.
![cosmic web cosmic web](https://www.captain-planet.net/uploads/2019/10/22.jpg)
The cosmic web has inspired many textile artistic representations, reviewed by Diemer & Facio, who also detail new techniques for ‘tactilization’ of the cosmic web. ‘Web’ was first used in this context even before, in the 1980s. 1 Also in modern physical cosmology, the textile concept of a cosmic web is important, the term introduced and popularized in the paper ‘How filaments of galaxies are woven into the cosmic web’. to the Fates spinning a tapestry representing destiny, and the planets riding on spheres rotating about a cosmic spindle. Textile concepts in mythological cosmology go back to antiquity, e.g.