This is important. We did not imagine that galactic sized masses of gas were swinging along long orbits through what is suddenly our mother galaxy. Also if we can see one it seems likely that there are many such slowly accumulating gas and dust that we cannot see.
I am not about to say that this is the solution to the missing mass problem, but so far it is the only creditable prospect even able to address the need. In fact the idea of large masses of gas was bandied about yet dismissed for the reason that there were no stars in evidence. That just stopped been a problem.
We can also see the vast intergalactic spaces between galaxies. We have believed them to be vacant. Why? This has told us that a huge amount of gas and dust could fill those voids and could easily match the present mass of the galaxy. It would still look vacant.
Had we trusted our calculations in the first place and merely assigned the proper amount of material, then noting it had failed to coalesce yet and left it at that, the whole dark mass tale would not have been heard. Now it shows up as a spare galaxy.
November 23, 2009 |
Invisible galaxy crashing into Milky Way
A giant invisible galaxy is colliding with our Milky Way, astronomers have discovered. It is a vast cloud of hydrogen containing enough matter to make one hundred million suns - but has failed to produce any stars at all. The presence of the dark blob was first detected last year. But only now has it been identified as a giant galaxy.
A giant invisible galaxy is colliding with our Milky Way, astronomers have discovered.
It is a vast cloud of hydrogen containing enough matter to make one hundred million suns - but has failed to produce any stars at all.
It is a vast cloud of hydrogen containing enough matter to make one hundred million suns - but has failed to produce any stars at all.
The presence of the dark blob was first detected last year. But only now has it been identified as a giant galaxy.
Calculations by astronomers at Sydney , Australia
The cosmic crash is not a threat to stars in our own bigger galaxy but its gravitational pull will distort the shape of the Milky Way over millions of years.
The astronomers says the invisible galaxy's trajectory suggests that it has already crashed through our galaxy's disk before, around 70 million years ago, New Scientist reports online.
Scientists believe our cosmic neighborhood may be teeming with hundreds more dark galaxies that have not yet been discovered.
Scientists believe our cosmic neighborhood may be teeming with hundreds more dark galaxies that have not yet been discovered.
