14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers scouting an ancient gas cloud known as the Leo Ring have discovered that the formation houses forming stars, even though it lacks most known necessary elements that support this process, such as heavy elements and dark matter. The scientists have been puzzled by the way the young stars formed, and have hypothesized that the gas cloud is maybe an unaltered remain of the early Universe, and that this type of galaxies that form directly from dust represent the way in which clusters were first created after the Big Bang, some 13.7 billion years ago.
By using the ultraviolet Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft, NASA investigators have managed to determine that forming galaxies may not need heavy metals and dark matter in order to develop after all, which contradicts all knowledge currently available. The present theories say that, in order for new stars to form, they have to be generated in the middle of galaxies, from highly-compressed gas, under the influence of a black hole and that of dark matter and dark energy, even though no one knows for sure what the latter two are.
“This demonstrates the tremendous power of observing the ultraviolet from space. By discovering star formation in what is likely a new class of dwarf galaxy, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer observatory is certainly living up to its name,” Carnegie Observatories astronomer Mark Seibert, who is the co-author of a new scientific study detailing the find, explains.
“The next phase is to follow up these objects with deep imaging and spectroscopy from the ground. An observing run on Carnegie's 6.5m Baade telescope is already scheduled for this spring,” Barry Madore, who is also a Carnegie Observatories astronomer and a co-investigator with NASA's GALEX mission, adds . He and Seibert have co-authored the new paper, which appears in the February 19th issue of the journal Nature. The research has been headed by Johns Hopkins University astronomer David Thilker.
According to existing theories, dark matter is the invisible substance that makes up the vast majority of matter we know. It cannot be detected directly, as astronomers believe that it's invisible. Its strength and influence can only be assessed by the role it plays in the formation of regular galaxies, by bringing filaments of gas and dust to a single point where a stellar nursery is born.