NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
A new galaxy, named Candidate Dark Galaxy-2 or CDG-2, was recently discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a new paper<\/p>\n
CDG-2 is believed to made up of 99% dark matter, which NASA said is \u201can invisible form of matter that does not reflect, emit, or absorb light\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA even said CDG-2 \u201cmay be among the most heavily dark matter-dominated galaxies ever discovered\u201d<\/p>\n
A new, nearly invisible galaxy made up almost entirely of dark matter has been discovered.<\/p>\n
The rare galaxy, named Candidate Dark Galaxy-2 or CDG-2, was recently discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/a>.<\/p>\n CDG-2 \u201cmay be among the most heavily dark matter-dominated galaxies ever discovered,\u201d according to a news release<\/a> from NASA, which described dark matter as \u201can invisible form of matter that does not reflect, emit, or absorb light.\u201d<\/p>\n These \u201clow-surface-brightness galaxies\u201d are \u201cnearly invisible\u201d due to the dark matter that dominates the space and only contain \u201ca sparse scattering of faint stars,\u201d NASA said.<\/p>\n Based on preliminary analysis, the agency said that “remarkably, 99% of its mass, which includes both visible matter and dark matter, appears to be dark matter.”<\/p>\n \u201cTo be technically correct, CDG-2 is an almost-dark galaxy,\u201d Dayi Li, a post-doctoral fellow in statistics and astrophysics at the University of Toronto and lead author of a study about the CDG-2 discovery, told CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n But, he added, \u201cthe importance of CDG-2 is that it nudges us much closer to getting to that truly dark regime, while previously we did not think a galaxy this faint could exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Dark galaxies are believed to have very few stars, if any at all, according to CNN.<\/p>\n In the case of CDG-2, a preliminary analysis suggested globular clusters accounted for 16% of the newly discovered galaxy\u2019s visible content, according to NASA.<\/p>\n Globular clusters are defined by the European Space Agency<\/a> as \u201cstable, tightly bound clusters of tens of thousands to millions of stars.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA said it is believed that much of CDG-2\u2019s matter for star formation \u201cwas likely stripped away by gravitational interactions with other galaxies inside the Perseus cluster.\u201d<\/p>\n