Dark galaxy

A dark galaxy is a hypothesized galaxy with no (or very few) stars. They received their name because they have no visible stars but may be detectable if they contain significant amounts of gas. Astronomers have long theorized the existence of dark galaxies, but there are no confirmed examples to date.[1] Dark galaxies are distinct from intergalactic gas clouds caused by galactic tidal interactions, since these gas clouds do not contain dark matter, so they do not technically qualify as galaxies. Distinguishing between intergalactic gas clouds and galaxies is difficult; most candidate dark galaxies turn out to be tidal gas clouds.[2] The best candidate dark galaxies to date[as of?] include HI1225+01,[3] AGC229385,[4] and numerous gas clouds detected in studies of quasars.

On 25 August 2016, astronomers reported that Dragonfly 44, an ultra diffuse galaxy (UDG) with the mass of the Milky Way galaxy, but with nearly no discernible stars or galactic structure, is made almost entirely of dark matter.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Cannon, John M.; Martinkus, Charlotte P.; Leisman, Lukas; Haynes, Martha P.; Adams, Elizabeth A. K.; Giovanelli, Riccardo; Hallenbeck, Gregory; Janowiecki, Steven; Jones, Michael (2015-02-01). "The Alfalfa "Almost Darks" Campaign: Pilot VLA HI Observations of Five High Mass-To-Light Ratio Systems". The Astronomical Journal. 149 (2): 72. arXiv:1412.3018. Bibcode:2015AJ....149...72C. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/2/72. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 118592858.
  2. ^ Oosterloo, T. A.; Heald, G. H.; De Blok, W. J. G. (2013). "Is GBT 1355+5439 a dark galaxy?". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 555: L7. arXiv:1306.6148. Bibcode:2013A&A...555L...7O. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321965. S2CID 118402005.
  3. ^ "The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey". egg.astro.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  4. ^ Janowiecki, Steven; Leisman, Lukas; Józsa, Gyula; Salzer, John J.; Haynes, Martha P.; Giovanelli, Riccardo; Rhode, Katherine L.; Cannon, John M.; Adams, Elizabeth A. K. (2015-03-01). "(Almost) Dark HI Sources in the ALFALFA Survey: The Intriguing Case of HI1232+20". The Astrophysical Journal. 801 (2): 96. arXiv:1502.01296. Bibcode:2015ApJ...801...96J. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/801/2/96. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 119271121.
  5. ^ Van Dokkum, Pieter; et al. (25 August 2016). "A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters For The Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 828 (1): L6. arXiv:1606.06291. Bibcode:2016ApJ...828L...6V. doi:10.3847/2041-8205/828/1/L6. S2CID 1275440.
  6. ^ Hall, Shannon (25 August 2016). "Ghost galaxy is 99.99 per cent dark matter with almost no stars". New Scientist. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  7. ^ Feltman, Rachael (26 August 2016). "A new class of galaxy has been discovered, one made almost entirely of dark matter". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 August 2016.