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A group of 60 ultra-faint stars could be a new type of galaxy
How It Works UK
|Issue 190
A stronomers have spotted the faintest and lightest satellite galaxy ever found: a minuscule, tight-knit group of stars trailing the Milky Way.
The peculiar discovery could represent a new class of impossibly faint, dark-matter-dominated star systems that had eluded detection until now. Tentatively named Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1), the newfound star system resides in the constellation of Ursa Major, about 30,000 light years from the Sun. It’s the newest addition to our galaxy’s assortment of at least 50 satellite galaxies. Even the smallest of these galaxies host thousands to billions of stars.
This story is from the Issue 190 edition of How It Works UK.
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