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New Insights into the Intergalactic Medium and Cosmic Filaments Unveiled The Intergalactic Medium: A Vast and Mysterious Expanse The majority of the universe's mass is not contained within stars or galaxies but resides in the vast ex panse between them, known as the intergalactic medium. This medium is warm to hot, often referred to as the "warm-hot intergalactic medium" (WHIM) , and accounts for nearly half of the universe's baryonic matter (excluding dark matter), though its hydrogen ion density is remarkably low — fewer than 100 ions  per cubic meter. Cosmic Filaments: The Building Blocks of the Cosmic Web At temperatures ranging from 100,000 to 10 million Kelvin, the intergalactic medium forms a network of " cosmic filaments ," massive regions of hot, diffuse gas connecting galaxies. These structures, also known as "galactic filaments," are the largest known in the universe, ty pically stretching 150 to 250 mega parsecs (500 to 800 million ligh...