Jan 14, 2011 19:01 GMT  ·  By
These are the results the UCB team obtained when they applied the model to the Whirlpool Galaxy, which was known to have dwarf satellite galaxies
   These are the results the UCB team obtained when they applied the model to the Whirlpool Galaxy, which was known to have dwarf satellite galaxies

According to astronomers at the University of California in Berkeley (UCB), Galaxy X, a cosmic formation hypothesized to orbit the Milky Way, could be found very soon. A researcher at the university has developed a new mathematical technique that could facilitate that finding.

The method focuses on analyzing the ripples that are produces by various sources in the hydrogen gas clouds contained by spiral galaxies. One of the mechanisms that produces such ripples is the influence exerted by orbiting spiral galaxies.

Experts suspect that they cannot see Galaxy X because it's very small and very dim. But the new technique, developed by UCB post-doctoral fellow and theoretical astronomer Sukanya Chakrabarti, might soon address this issue.

The researcher believes that the mathematical model could have other applications as well. She says that discovering dark matter may also become easier by applying the model to other galaxies except our own.

Astronomers cannot see or analyze dark matter directly, but they can infer its effects by the gravitational effects that are exerted on normal matter in massive spiral galaxies. Applying the new technique on these objects could reveal the distribution of dark matter, and its directions of action too.

“My hope is that this method can serve as a probe of mass distribution and of dark matter in galaxies, in the way that gravitational lensing today has become a probe for distant galaxies,” said Chakrabarti.

The expert presented details of the model a couple of days ago in Seattle, at the 217th winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS 2011), Space reports. She explained that Galaxy X most likely has a mass 100 time smaller than that of the Milky Way.

Working together with UCB professor of astronomy Leo Blitz, Chakrabarti determined that the object must now be located in the constellations of Norma or Circinu, just ,west of the galactic center.

“This approach has broad implications for many fields of physics and astronomy – for the indirect detection of dark matter as well as dark-matter dominated dwarf galaxies, planetary dynamics, and for galaxy evolution driven by satellite impacts,” the post-doctoral fellow adds.

She gained confidence in her model after she tested it on two galaxies that were known to contain faint, dwarf galaxy satellites. The technique indeed revealed that the two objects had companions.

“The method is like inferring the size and speed of a ship by looking at its wake. You see the waves from a lot of boats, but you have to be able to separate out the wake of a medium or small ship from that of an ocean liner,” Blitz concludes.