Scientists May Have Discovered a Massive Starless Galaxy
Some galaxies appear to contain all the ingredients needed to make stars, yet have failed to produce almost any.
Scientists have puzzled over why for years. Recent findings suggest that these “dark galaxies”—that is, galaxies that contain gas and dark matter but few or no stars—may be lurking throughout the cosmos. Finding them could help astronomers understand why some galaxies form stars while others remain dark, and test the best models of galaxy formation.
Researchers’ most successful model of the cosmos, known as Lambda-CDM, assumes the existence of two invisible ingredients: dark energy, the mysterious property thought to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, as well as cold dark matter, a hypothetical substance that physicists think makes up about 85 percent of the universe’s matter.
Clumps of dark matter, called haloes, provide the gravitational scaffolding for galaxies to form and grow, according to the model. Gas collects inside...
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