**Astronomers have just** identified what appears to be a cosmic anomaly: a faint galaxy with so few visible [stars](https://www.wired.com/tag/stars/) that, according to calculations, as much as 99.9 percent of its mass is [dark matter](https://www.wired.com/tag/dark-matter). The remaining 0.1 percent is conventional matter.
This galaxy, located about 300 million light-years away, is practically invisible. Only four globular clusters, small concentrations of stars that look like isolated neighborhoods in the middle of the void, stand out. For years, these star collections in the Perseus cluster were considered independent objects.
Now, after an exhaustive analysis, a [study](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adddab) published in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters* presents solid evidence that these globular clusters are part of the same galaxy dominated by dark matter. Tentatively named CDG-2 (Candidate Dark Galaxy-2), it is the first galaxy to be detected only by its brightest fragments.
Are they any closer to being able to explain what dark matter is?
TeeTimeAllTheTime on
Yea sure I’ll believe that when they actually define exactly what dark matter is
DJenser1 on
Makes me wonder how many other dark matter galaxies are out there without any bright parts to detect?
CinBengals94 on
The amount of people that don’t understand the difference between dark matter and dark energy will always be baffling to me. Dark matter is definitely a thing. We don’t know what it is, but we can measure it. If you want to say dark energy is fugazi, fine. Have at it. But don’t lump them together just because they have similar names.
AsToldByGingersnap on
I don’t know a lot about how the science community works, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. But is this discovery considered “ Physics Nobel Prize” worthy for the scientist(s) who detected & confirmed it?
DrangleDingus on
I watched a fascinating video the other day on YouTube that was an alternative take on what dark matter is. I’m not new to space facts and it absolutely blew my mind. Forgive me if I butcher this theory:
Dark matter is an “illusion” because our observable universe just happens to be in a low-matter “bubble”. The universe is much bigger than we originally thought, and the laws of physics are NOT universal. In other areas of the universe matter acts in different ways. We just don’t realize it bc in our “bubble” of the universe, we can only see light from the confines of our bubbles laws of physicals. And so, at a distance, we have no way of confirming that the laws of physicals are the same at the place we’re receiving light from.
The evidence for this theory, if you can call it that. Is that far away galaxies have a super odd “preference” to spin a certain way. It’s not 50/50, and nobody can explain why.
There seems to be a whole bunch of extra mass somewhere. But what we thought was extra mass (dark matter) might just be light coming from a very far away part of the universe where the laws of physics are in fact, not universal.
The extra mass is literally just more regular matter, acting in different ways, according to different laws of physics, far beyond our observable universe.
Woah!!
Ok please don’t roast me. Space nerds.
eaglessoar on
Fucking cool, dark galaxies space just keep fucking with us.
8 Comments
**Astronomers have just** identified what appears to be a cosmic anomaly: a faint galaxy with so few visible [stars](https://www.wired.com/tag/stars/) that, according to calculations, as much as 99.9 percent of its mass is [dark matter](https://www.wired.com/tag/dark-matter). The remaining 0.1 percent is conventional matter.
This galaxy, located about 300 million light-years away, is practically invisible. Only four globular clusters, small concentrations of stars that look like isolated neighborhoods in the middle of the void, stand out. For years, these star collections in the Perseus cluster were considered independent objects.
Now, after an exhaustive analysis, a [study](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adddab) published in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters* presents solid evidence that these globular clusters are part of the same galaxy dominated by dark matter. Tentatively named CDG-2 (Candidate Dark Galaxy-2), it is the first galaxy to be detected only by its brightest fragments.
Read the full story: [https://www.wired.com/story/a-galaxy-composed-almost-entirely-of-dark-matter-has-been-confirmed/](https://www.wired.com/story/a-galaxy-composed-almost-entirely-of-dark-matter-has-been-confirmed/)
Are they any closer to being able to explain what dark matter is?
Yea sure I’ll believe that when they actually define exactly what dark matter is
Makes me wonder how many other dark matter galaxies are out there without any bright parts to detect?
The amount of people that don’t understand the difference between dark matter and dark energy will always be baffling to me. Dark matter is definitely a thing. We don’t know what it is, but we can measure it. If you want to say dark energy is fugazi, fine. Have at it. But don’t lump them together just because they have similar names.
I don’t know a lot about how the science community works, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. But is this discovery considered “ Physics Nobel Prize” worthy for the scientist(s) who detected & confirmed it?
I watched a fascinating video the other day on YouTube that was an alternative take on what dark matter is. I’m not new to space facts and it absolutely blew my mind. Forgive me if I butcher this theory:
Dark matter is an “illusion” because our observable universe just happens to be in a low-matter “bubble”. The universe is much bigger than we originally thought, and the laws of physics are NOT universal. In other areas of the universe matter acts in different ways. We just don’t realize it bc in our “bubble” of the universe, we can only see light from the confines of our bubbles laws of physicals. And so, at a distance, we have no way of confirming that the laws of physicals are the same at the place we’re receiving light from.
The evidence for this theory, if you can call it that. Is that far away galaxies have a super odd “preference” to spin a certain way. It’s not 50/50, and nobody can explain why.
There seems to be a whole bunch of extra mass somewhere. But what we thought was extra mass (dark matter) might just be light coming from a very far away part of the universe where the laws of physics are in fact, not universal.
The extra mass is literally just more regular matter, acting in different ways, according to different laws of physics, far beyond our observable universe.
Woah!!
Ok please don’t roast me. Space nerds.
Fucking cool, dark galaxies space just keep fucking with us.