Space & Astronomy

'Ghost' galaxy is almost entirely dark matter

By T.K. Randall
August 28, 2016 ·  3 comments

Dragonfly 44 has been referred to as our own galaxy's 'Dark Twin'. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/ESO Announced on Thursday, the galaxy, which is situated over 300 million light years away, was initially picked up by the Dragonfly Telephoto Array in Toronto before being investigated further by astronomers using the Gemini North and Keck II telescopes in Hawaii.

While it is not the first time that a galaxy has been found with a significant quantity of dark matter, this one contains such an overwhelming amount of it that there is hardly anything else there.

How a galaxy like this one originally came to form however remains a complete mystery.

"It means we don't understand, kind of fundamentally, how galaxy formation works," said astronomer Pieter van Dokkum from Yale University.

Source: Tech Times | Comments (3)

Tags: Dark Matter