Astronomers discovered a nearly invisible dwarf galaxy that cannot be explained by our current understanding of the universe.
The mysteriously faint formation – which has been named Nube – is unique because of its high levels of dark matter and low mass at its center.
These unusual attributes mean Nube’s stars are very spread out and therefore the galaxy emits barely any light, allowing it to evade detection for years.
The galaxy is 10 times fainter than most other galaxies of the same size.
‘With our present knowledge we do not understand how a galaxy with such extreme characteristics can exist,’ according to Mireia Montes, the study’s lead author and an astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.
Researchers discovered the dwarf galaxy, named Nube, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Scientists believe the galaxy is 300 million light-years from the Milky Way, but further research is needed to determine its exact location.
It was discovered by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL).
Nube, which means cloud in Spanish, was named for its appearance as an almost dark galaxy with only a small amount of mass at its center.
Researchers involved in the study said finding the galaxy is significant because its faint brightness, which is caused by high amounts of dark matter, has allowed it to evade detection.
Dark matter is the absence of light or energy, making it completely invisible so conventional sensors and detectors can’t find it.
Researchers analyzed data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and noticed an inconsistency that made them take a closer look at the findings.
They took ultra-deep multicolor images of the anomaly with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Gran Telescopio Canaria (GTC) and upon discovering the dwarf galaxy, they questioned how it could be held together when there is such a small amount of mass at its center.
Researchers took three separate images using the Sloan survey and multicolor photos using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Gran Telescopio Canaria (GTC)
The mass would normally act as a gravitational pull to keep the stars in place, but the galaxy’s existence despite its limited mass contradicts astronomer’s previous assertions that dark matter needs high levels of mass to exist.
‘One possibility which is attractive is that the unusual properties of Nube are showing us that the particles which make up dark matter have an extremely small mass,’ said study co-author Ignacio Trujillo, an astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands.
He added that if dark matter is comprised of a small mass, ‘it would be one of the most beautiful demonstrations of nature, unifying the world of the smallest with that of the largest.’
This is just one possibility though, and researchers involved in the study said more research still needs to be conducted, but their findings could shift the way scientists view dark matter and the universe.
‘We have known for some time that the current model of cold dark matter does not fully explain certain properties of the galaxies we see,’ Dr. Mireia Montes, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the IAC and the ULL, told Dailymail.com.
She said that this type of galaxy can help researchers discover more information about dark matter, and while they aren’t able to fully explain what they know now, they have to resort to questioning the properties of dark matter.
‘I think the most obvious outcome is to test and gradually improve what we already know in order to better understand our universe,’ Montes said, adding: ‘But the potential is huge!’
