New York : Astronomers have discovered 854 previously hidden ‘ultra dark’ galaxies, that may be filled with mysterious dark matter, in a region known as the Coma Cluster, reports PTI.
The discovery surpasses the last year’s discovery of 47 mysterious dark galaxies by more than 800 and suggests that galaxy clusters are the key environment for the evolution of such galaxies.
“The finding suggests that these galaxies appear very diffuse and are very likely enveloped by something very massive,” said Jin Koda, principal investigator of the study and Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University in New York, US.
The ultra-dark galaxies are similar in size to the Milky Way, but have only 1/1,000 of stars that our galaxy does. The stellar population within such fluffy extended galaxies is subject to rapid disruption due to a strong tidal force detected within the cluster.
“We believe that something invisible must be protecting the fragile star systems of these galaxies, something with a high mass,” said Koda. “That ‘something’ is very likely an excessive amount of dark matter,” Koda said.
The component of visible matter, such as stars, is calculated to contribute only one per cent or less to the total mass of each galaxy. The rest – dark matter – accounts for more than 99 per cent.
