05-11-2024, 06:29 AM
Tentative study: "Does the Milky Way Have Too Many Satellite Galaxies?"
Relatively large galaxies such as ours are known to have "satellite galaxies", i.e. much smaller and less well-organized galaxies than ours. However, there seems to be some evidence that the number of satellite galaxies orbiting us is much larger than expected. This may simply be observational bias; small and faint galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are much easier to detect than those orbiting more distant galaxies. This latest result comes from the Subaru Observatory on Mauna Kea:
"The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are well known satellite galaxies of the Milky Way but there are more. It is surrounded by at least 61 within 1.4 million light years (for context the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away) but there are likely to be more. A team of astronomers have been hunting for more companions using the Subaru telescope and so far, have searched just 3% of the sky. To everyone’s surprise they have found nine previously undiscovered satellite galaxies, far more than expected."
More at https://www.universetoday.com/166932/doe...-galaxies/
Relatively large galaxies such as ours are known to have "satellite galaxies", i.e. much smaller and less well-organized galaxies than ours. However, there seems to be some evidence that the number of satellite galaxies orbiting us is much larger than expected. This may simply be observational bias; small and faint galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are much easier to detect than those orbiting more distant galaxies. This latest result comes from the Subaru Observatory on Mauna Kea:
"The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are well known satellite galaxies of the Milky Way but there are more. It is surrounded by at least 61 within 1.4 million light years (for context the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away) but there are likely to be more. A team of astronomers have been hunting for more companions using the Subaru telescope and so far, have searched just 3% of the sky. To everyone’s surprise they have found nine previously undiscovered satellite galaxies, far more than expected."
More at https://www.universetoday.com/166932/doe...-galaxies/