Scientists from the Institute of Astrophysics de Canarias (IAC) have resolved a mystery of the year 2018 regarding the extragalactic astrophysics. The mystery was about the supposed existence of a galaxy without dark matter. The idea of a galaxy with no dark matter is impossible to understand because of the knowledge and the theory of the galaxy formation.
Everything was overturned by a study published in 2018 about the discovery of a galaxy with no dark matter. This discovery has made a strong impact in the world of science. However, a new study revealed that the “galaxy without dark matter” has dark matter, after all.
The scientists from the Institute of Astrophysics de Canarias (IAC) have solved this mystery through a complete set of observations of the galaxy without dark matter named KKS2000]04 (NGC1052-DF2). The study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
The “galaxy without dark matter” seems to have dark matter, after all
Through this new study, scientists have measured the distance of the galaxy. The parameters were abnormal. After that, they have revised the distance indicators to see the results again.
Besides this, they have used five independent methods to estimate the distance of the object found. Scientists have reached a single conclusion: after the previous search value, the galaxy is nearer than they thought initially. The last search has concluded that the universe is set at a distance of 64 million light years from our planet.
However, with this new search, the distance is much lower – 42 million light years. The parameters of the galaxy are interfering from its, and they are reasonable. The data resulted from the new distance analysis says that the total mass of this galaxy is really half the mass resulted in the previous study.
To sum up, if the total mass of the galaxy is only half, the mass of its stars represent a quarter as well, and then the rest of the mass must be dark matter. For scientists, making these measurements has been a challenging task in astrophysics.
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