Dark-Matter Galaxy Detected
Hidden Dwarf Lurks Nearby? Signs point to an invisible "Galaxy X" just outside our own. Richard A. Lovett in Seattle , Washington for National Geographic News Published January 14, 2011 An entire galaxy may be lurking, unseen, just outside our own, scientists announced Thursday. The invisibility of "Galaxy X"—as the purported body has been dubbed—may be due less to its apparent status as a dwarf galaxy than to its murky location and its overwhelming amount of dark matter, astronomer Sukanya Chakrabarti speculates. Detectable only by the effects of its gravitational pull, dark matter is an invisible material that scientists think makes up more than 80 percent of the mass in the universe. (See "Dark Matter Detected for First Time." ) Chakrabarti, of the University of California , Berkeley , devised a technique similar to that used 160 years ago to predict the existence of Neptune , which was given away by the wobbles its gravity induced in...