An example is the Great Magellanic Cloud (LMC), relatively visible from the southern hemisphere of our planet, which, according to recent measurements from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, brought at least six companions when it approached “from here”.
The big revelation of the time is that the Milky Way may have more than 150 satellite galaxies, unlike the approximately 60 predicted so far. Researchers at the Energy Department of the National Laboratory of Accelerators – SLAC and the Dark Energy Survey relied on observations of weak galaxies around the Milky Way to optimize their estimates from dark matter halos, as well as the size and structure of galaxies . From these data, it was possible to carry out advanced simulations that can say a lot about the origin of the Milky Way. Risa Wechsler, director of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Particle Cosmology at Stanford University, is excited about the discovery: “For the first time, we can look at these satellite galaxies in about three quarters of the visible sky. This is really important to learn more about dark matter and the formation of the Milky Way, ”he declared.
Dark matter and the origin of galaxies As is known, dark matter cannot be seen with current technology, but its gravitational force causes changes around where it is present that are perceived by scientists. Ethan Nadler, one of the study’s authors, explains the importance of this data “We know a few things about dark matter, how much dark matter there is and how it clumps together, but all of these statements are blunt, stating that, yes, this is how it behaves at scales larger than the size of our local group of galaxies . And then the question is: does it work on the smallest scales that we can measure? ” Now, the team behind the research is using the data discovered to look for different aspects in the visible sky, such as the amount of dark matter needed to identify a galaxy, how many satellite galaxies can be discovered by future projects and whether those galaxies can bring their own. orbiting around them.
Going back to the example of the Great Magellanic Cloud, considering that its satellite galaxies may bring more, we have, well, a considerable number of universes not discovered by Science – as well as all those that have not yet been detected around the Milky Way. This can only be considered due to the changes perceived by dark matter. Science Challenges However, some uncertainties in the traditional research model need to be overcome, as current studies are based on light, size and distance from what is observed – nothing that applies to the findings. What’s more, according to simulations based on information captured by Hubble, such as the speed at which these clusters travel, the Milky Way’s encounter with the Great Magellanic Cloud happened 2.2 billion years ago.
Were you scared of how small we can be? Calm down, there’s more. Each visible galaxy has stars with a mass around 100 times greater than that of our Astro King – and the least visible of them to our eyes could, according to the new models, have halos 100 times less massive than that. That is, if we see little, there is much more behind this unknown scenario. Still, we have our importance. For now, in the midst of all this immensity, we are the only ones who have managed to discover so much in such a short time of existence. After all, 350 thousand years is very close to when we met a neighbor who has a slightly larger family than expected.
