Written by April Ryder | issued
Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf galaxy in the universe that went undiscovered for generations due to its strange formation and dim appearance. This small galaxy was named Nube (Spanish for “cloud”).
To astronomers, dwarf galaxies are largely invisible and cannot be explained by our current understanding of the universe. In fact, it’s so faint that researchers have yet to pinpoint its exact location.
The newly discovered dwarf galaxies are described as a “diffuse” collection in a study published in January 2024. This means that the stars that make up Nube are so spread out that the galaxy emits almost no light.
Until now, science’s understanding of how galaxies are built is that there should be a greater concentration of light at the center of the galaxy, and that the light should become thinner the further away you get from the center. .
To astronomers, dwarf galaxies are largely invisible and cannot be explained by our current understanding of the universe.
There must be a bright object in the middle of a galaxy formation to provide the necessary gravitational force to hold the galaxy together. This may explain why Nube is 10 times wider than what science says it “should” be. Additionally, dwarf galaxies are 10 times fainter than would be expected for a galaxy of its size.
Mireia Montes, lead astrophysicist on the study, said: “With our current knowledge, we cannot understand how galaxies with such extreme characteristics could exist.” Mireia Montes has devoted much of her life to studying the universe at the Institute of Astrophysics in the Canary Islands.
The discovery of the new dwarf galaxy came as Montes and his team were reanalyzing old data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a highly detailed astronomical database of the night sky.
In fact, it’s so faint that researchers still haven’t pinpointed its exact location.
While examining old data, I noticed a discrepancy. After looking closely at the discrepancy with a polychromatic imaging telescope, the researchers were able to definitively classify the anomaly as a dwarf galaxy. However, it violates some specific basic principles set forth by astronomy.
Given the dim appearance of this dwarf galaxy, the exact location of this dwarf galaxy in the universe cannot actually be determined, but researchers believe that this anomaly is located approximately 300 million light-years away from the Milky Way. We have gathered enough information to argue that it is possible, and that it is about one-third the size of our galaxy. Galaxy.
Even by focusing on the structure of nubes, scientists cannot clearly explain how dwarf galaxies are organized. You might think that the central mass is so small that it wouldn’t generate enough gravity to maintain the galaxy’s structure, but Nube still exists.
“With our current knowledge, we do not understand how galaxies with such extreme features could exist.”
Mireia Montes, Principal Research Astrophysicist
Astronomers would usually explain Nube’s gravitational anomalies by the presence of dark matter. Dark matter is a highly mysterious type of matter that is thought to make up about 27 percent of the mass of the known universe. However, current understanding of dark matter suggests that dwarf galaxies do not have enough dark matter to explain their unusual properties.
Whatever the cause of Nube’s strange properties, astronomers are now searching for more dwarf galaxies with similar compositions. Finding more galaxies like Nube would expand our current understanding and open new avenues for the future of astronomical research.
sauce: astronomy and astrophysics