Astronomers have identified a stellar stream—a faint ribbon of stars—orbiting a galaxy beyond the Milky Way, marking the first such discovery outside our own. This stream is being used to map the distribution of dark matter surrounding the distant galaxy.
A faint ribbon of stars surrounding a distant galaxy has been identified as the first globular cluster stellar stream ever detected beyond the Milky Way. Researchers say the stream traces the galaxy’s gravity, allowing them to estimate the amount of invisible dark matter surrounding it and how that matter is distributed.
The breakthrough offers astronomers a new method for investigating dark matter, one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. By observing the path of the stars in the stream, scientists can infer the gravitational forces at play, revealing the presence and distribution of dark matter, which cannot be directly observed.
According to the source, the discovery provides a promising new way to investigate one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. The research team utilized the stellar stream as a tracer of the galaxy’s gravitational field, effectively ‘weighing’ the dark matter content and mapping its distribution.
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