Astronomers have made a surprising discovery: a faint, almost invisible object holds together a collection of star clusters. This represents the intriguing presence of a hidden galaxy about to disappear into space. The discovery began with the observation of four globular clusters located close to each other in the Perseus star cluster, about 300 million light-years away. While small clusters usually drift away from time, they remain in tight orbits, implying a powerful pull from an unseen source.
Astronomers have determined that a barely visible, faint object holds together a compact whole. They tested the possibility of a random alignment, but statistical analyzes showed this to be highly unlikely. Instead, the data suggests a huge invisible object anchored them in place.
In this regard, David Li, astrostatistical researcher at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study, said: “This is the first galaxy to be discovered solely through its global cluster population.”
The research results have been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, raising questions about how many other faint galaxies are too faint to detect with existing methods. These objects could lead to a miscalculation of the total number of galaxies in the universe.
The new technique developed by the team will help detect additional galaxies that are currently hidden. Researchers identified images of CGD-2 captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the European Space Agency’s Euclid Space Observatory and Japan’s Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. CGD-2 appears to have only four globular clusters, while the Milky Way has more than 150.
The mysterious object shines dimly, emitting the light of only 6 million suns, compared to the billions of suns that illuminate our own galaxy.
