Astronomers have discovered a dwarf galaxy that is nearly invisible and cannot be explained by our current understanding of the universe.
This cryptic and mysterious formation, nicknamed the Nube, is unique due to its high levels of dark matter and low mass at its center.
These unusual features mean that Nobi’s stars are so scattered that the galaxy emits almost no light, making it undetectable for years.
This galaxy is ten times fainter than most other galaxies of the same size.
“With the knowledge we currently have, we don’t understand how galaxies with such extreme properties could exist,” said Mireya Montes, lead author of the study and an astrophysicist at the Institute for Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.
Researchers discovered the dwarf galaxy, called Nube, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Scientists believe the galaxy is 300 million light years from the Milky Way, but more research is needed to determine its exact location.
This was discovered by researchers at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL).
Nube, which means cloud in Spanish, was named after its appearance as a nearly dark galaxy with a small mass at its center.
Researchers involved in the study say that the discovery of this galaxy is important because its faint brightness, caused by the presence of large amounts of dark matter, allows it to avoid detection.
Dark matter is the absence of light or energy, so it is completely invisible, so conventional sensors and detectors cannot find it.
Researchers analyzed data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and found inconsistencies that led them to take a closer look at the results.
They took colorful, deep-seated images of the anomaly using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and Gran Telescopio Canaria (GTC) and after discovering the dwarf galaxy, they wondered how it could stick together when its mass is so small. In the middle.
The researchers took three separate images using the Sloan Survey and a multi-color image using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and Gran Telescopio Canaria (GTC).
Mass usually acts as a gravitational force to keep stars in place, but the existence of galaxies despite their limited mass contradicts previous assertions by astronomers that dark matter requires high levels of mass to exist.
“One interesting possibility is that Nube’s unusual properties show us that the particles that make up dark matter have very small masses,” said study co-author Ignacio Trujillo, an astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics in the Canary Islands. .
He added that if dark matter consisted of small masses, “this would be one of nature’s most beautiful demonstrations, uniting smaller worlds with larger worlds.”
This is just one possibility, and the researchers involved in the study say that more research remains to be done, but their findings could change the way scientists view dark matter and the universe.
“We have known for some time that current models of cold dark matter do not fully explain certain properties of the galaxies we see,” said Dr. Mireya Montes, lead author of the study and researcher at IAC and UL. daily mail.com.
He said that this type of galaxy could help researchers discover more information about dark matter, and although they cannot fully explain what they know now, they are forced to question the properties of dark matter.
“I think the most obvious outcome is to test what we already know and gradually improve it in order to better understand our world,” Montes said, adding: “But the potential is huge!”
2024-01-30 17:29:46
#world #astrophysicists #confused #discovery #invisible #galaxy #called #Nube #change #scientists #understanding #universe
