Mysterious Galaxy Possibly Made of Dark Matter

Mysterious Galaxy Possibly Made of Dark Matter

A team of astronomers has identified a new galaxy that may be made completely of dark matter, the second of its kind. In a discovery announced in January, an international team of researchers has found a dark dwarf galaxy about 10 billion light years from Earth. In the current issue of Nature, the team of astronomers report having found one of the smallest galaxies on record, noting its mass is equal to just 113 million Suns. The galaxy is located halfway across the visible universe.

The discovery comes as astronomers have predicted that large-scale dark matter simulations of the Universe produce results that match the observed populations of large galaxies such as Milky Way. However, recent surveys show that there are far too many low-mass galaxies compared to what has been observed to warrant the existence of the galaxies observed. One possible explanation is that at least some low-mass galaxies may be lacking much ordinary matter, say scientists. The team suggests that galaxies made up entirely of dark matter may be swirling about throughout the universe.