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On A Cosmic Real Estate Scale, Milky Way Lies In A Sparsely Populated Region

To think of the structure of the universe, and the distribution of matter within it, picture a chunk of Swiss cheese and its holes. Think of all the solid parts as all the invisible and unobservable dark matter and dark energy, while the holes — about 5 percent of the total — contain most visible matter. Add some veins between the holes, and those are like the filaments in space, making up the rest of the visible matter.