A starless cloud, rich in gas, dominated by dark matter and considered a relic or vestige of the early formation of galaxies, is the new type of astronomical object that the Hubble space telescope has identified.
The object, nicknamed Cloud-9, is the first confirmed detection of its type in the universe and contributes to improving the understanding of galaxy formation, the early universe and the nature of dark matter, according to a study published The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
This cloud is “a window to the dark universe,” said Andrew Fox, a member of the AURA/STScI team for the European Space Agency (ESA).
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The theory says that most of the mass in the universe would be dark matter, but this is difficult to detect because it does not emit light. Cloud-9 “offers us a rare vision” of a cloud dominated by that type of matter, dark matter, the researcher added in a statement.
The history of this new type of object is that of “a failed galaxy” and in science we tend to learn more from failures than from successes, said Alejandro Benítez-Llambay, also a signatory of the study, from the Milano-Bicocca University (Italy).
The fact that no stars were seen in this cloud is what indicates that Hubble located in the local universe a primordial component of a galaxy that has not yet formed.
The formal name of this object is Reionization Limited Hydrogen I Cloud (RELHIC). HI refers to neutral hydrogen and RELHIC describes a natal hydrogen cloud from the early days of the universe, a residual fossil that has not formed stars, the note explains.
For years, scientists have searched for evidence of the existence of this theoretical object, which scientists believe are clouds of dark matter that failed to accumulate enough gas to form stars, thus representing a window into the early stages of galaxy formation.
The new object is smaller, about 4,900 light years in diameter, compact and highly spherical, making it appear very different from other clouds.
This starless relic was discovered three years ago, but only with Hubble’s intervention were researchers able to definitively determine that the failed galaxy contains no stars.
With information from EFE
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