Science

By Robert Lea published 1 day ago
"Stars could be there, we just can't see them."



Astronomers have accidentally discovered a dark galaxy filled with primordial gas untouched that appears to have no visible stars.
The researchers behind the discovery say this galaxy, designated J0613+52, could be "the faintest galaxy found to date." Interestingly, scientists using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) discovered the "dark" galaxy through a complete error.

"The GBT was accidentally pointed to the wrong coordinates and found this object. It's a galaxy made only out of gas — it has no visible stars," Green Bank Observatory senior scientist Karen O'Neil said in a statement. "Stars could be there. We just can't see them."

Remarkably, this galaxy full of primordial gas isn't billions of light-years away and thus seen as it was when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was in its infancy; instead, the dark galaxy designated J0613+52 is just around 270 million light-years away.

Low Surface Brightness galaxies

J0613+52 was discovered by astronomers as they surveyed hydrogen gas in several so-called Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxies using several major radio telescopes around the globe, including the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope located in Green Bank, West Virginia, and the Nançay Radio Telescope at the Paris Observatory.

More:
https://www.space.com/dark-primordial-galaxy-no-stars-green-bank-observatory