Astronomers have discovered two new satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, a finding that could enhance our understanding of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe but remains practically invisible to us.
These discoveries also bring scientists closer to addressing a long-standing issue with the standard model of cosmology, known as the "Lambda Cold Dark Matter" (ΛCDM) model. In this model, "cold" suggests that dark matter consists of particles that move slower than the speed of light.
The newly found small stellar communities have been named Sextans II and Virgo III. They join about 60 known dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way at a maximum distance of 1.4 million light-years. The most famous and largest of these Milky Way satellite galaxies are the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).
Scientists finally found 2 of the Milky Way's missing satellite galaxies. What could this mean for astronomy?

свернуть