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Astronomers Discover Seven Dwarf Galaxies

posted by Woods on Saturday July 12 2014, @01:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the snow-white-pun dept.

lhsi writes:

Abstract: http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/782/2/L24/

By using a new telescope made by stitching together telephoto lenses, astronomers have discovered seven previously unseen galaxies while probing a nearby spiral galaxy.

The Yale scientists will tackle a key question next: Are these seven newly found objects dwarf galaxies orbiting around the M101 spiral galaxy, or are they located much closer or farther away, and just by chance are visible in the same direction as M101?

If it's the latter, Merritt said, these objects represent something entirely different. "There are predictions from galaxy formation theory about the need for a population of very diffuse, isolated galaxies in the universe," Merritt said. "It may be that these seven galaxies are the tip of the iceberg, and there are thousands of them in the sky that we haven't detected yet."

Merritt stressed that until they collect more data and determine the distances to the objects, researchers won't know their true nature. But the possibilities are intriguing enough that the team has been granted the opportunity to use the Hubble Space Telescope for further study.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday July 12 2014, @03:45AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday July 12 2014, @03:45AM (#67968) Journal

    OK, fellow Soylents!
    What is the point of this story? The dwarf galaxies, which are not that uncommon, especially in the Ursa Major region? Or the question of orbit, which is in fact a rather mundane question in astronomy. (Just because something looks close to something else, that does not means it actually is.) Or that they put together a telescope made of a bunch of telephoto lenses!!!!! Bug eye Astronomy!!! Seeing stuff the human eye could not otherwise see! (Well, until we can get the time for Hubble deep field view around M101. . . .)

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  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday July 12 2014, @04:52AM

    by captain normal (2205) on Saturday July 12 2014, @04:52AM (#67983)

    I think it is interesting that the Dragonfly array is set up 3-4-1, and if M101 is considered 1, then the ghost galaxies are neatly arraigned very close to 4-3. So I think waiting for data from Hubble is a good idea.

    --
    Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--