03-28-2018, 04:30 PM
Missing dark matter
This is a real mystery. It's pretty obvious from observations of galaxies that the universe consists mostly of "dark matter", stuff we can't see directly but can infer exists due to its gravitational effects. However, using the Keck and Gemini telescopes on Mauna Kea, we've discovered a galaxy that seems to have little or no dark matter. It's a real puzzle.
https://www.gemini.edu/node/21048
"“It’s like you take a galaxy and you only have the stellar halo and globular clusters, and it somehow forgot to make everything else,” van Dokkum said. “There is no theory that predicted these types of galaxies. The galaxy is a complete mystery, as everything about it is strange. How you actually go about forming one of these things is completely unknown.”"
This is a real mystery. It's pretty obvious from observations of galaxies that the universe consists mostly of "dark matter", stuff we can't see directly but can infer exists due to its gravitational effects. However, using the Keck and Gemini telescopes on Mauna Kea, we've discovered a galaxy that seems to have little or no dark matter. It's a real puzzle.
https://www.gemini.edu/node/21048
"“It’s like you take a galaxy and you only have the stellar halo and globular clusters, and it somehow forgot to make everything else,” van Dokkum said. “There is no theory that predicted these types of galaxies. The galaxy is a complete mystery, as everything about it is strange. How you actually go about forming one of these things is completely unknown.”"