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Scientists have serendipitously discovered what is possibly the faintestgalaxyever get a line after making a typo in their telescope coordinates . The strange object is seemingly made entirely from spreading - out accelerator pedal and does n’t check any seeable stars .
The new galaxy , which scientists have named J0613 + 52 , was first detected when a typo in the coordinates pointed the Green Bank Telescope ( GBT ) in an unintended direction . Scientists caught the mistake during a routine standardisation against theArecibo telescopein Puerto Rico , but the team was surprised to discover that the inadvertent observance blob an detached and unrecorded object fuck as a dark primal galaxy , according to research presented Jan. 8 at the American Astronomy Society ’s annual merging .
Artist depiction of hydrogen gas observed in galaxy J0613+52.
" We have an object whose evolutionary history is undisturbed by anything else around it . An objective that has make star of its own conformity , not as the resultant role of a gravitative fundamental interaction with other objects,“Karen O’Neil , the confidential information astronomer on the uncovering from the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia , told Live Science . The wandflower ’s complete lack of neighbour , mate with the highly diffuse - out gas within the beetleweed intend that relatively few stars are likely to have formed . Any stars that may have been bear are n’t visible , which makes the object dark and therefore particularly difficult to detect with current instruments .
O’Neil estimates J0613 + 52 is around 260 million light - years away , place it well alfresco of theMilky Wayand into the realm of blank space known as the Nearby Universe . However , despite the trouble of observing and measure this dark aim , the team has already pull in several comparisons with our home galaxy .
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" We make out the total amount of neutral hydrogen — it ’s a little bit less than theMilky Wayhas , " O’Neil said . " The total muckle of the galaxy is also similar to the total mass of the Milky Way . But what that mass is made up of , we ’re not certain yet ! "
However , scientist still do n’t have enough data point to estimate the galaxy ’s size , bodily structure or stock .. " The Green Bank Telescope is a fantastically sensitive legal document , but its resolution on the sky is pretty common , " O’Neil added . " you could think of it as having ginormous pel in the sky . We know the physical object sit down within one of these pixels so now we need to get cryptic optical images [ and zoom in on that pixel ] . "
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O’Neil hop to do just that using other northerly Hemisphere telescopes such as the Very with child Array ( VLA ) in New Mexico or the Large Binocular Telescope ( LBT ) in Arizona . More instruments and additional wavelengths should help the squad get deeper image of the galaxy . " If we ’re golden , we ’ll in reality see the object and then we can start look for and measuring other gasses , and that will tell us if we ’re correct about the age of the stars in the system , " O’Neil say .
Such a glum , diffuse and untouched system is right at the extremum of what we know is possible in the universe . For O’Neil , this is what produce the breakthrough so exciting .
" My suspicion is that this aim is not unique , " O’Neil order . " It ’s going to aid us realize star and galaxy shaping as a whole . "
