The Milky Way's Dark Twin Revealed

[CygnusX-1]

A galaxy as massive as the Milky Way emits only 1% as much light.

Link: Nature.

 

[1oldman2]

Interesting article, thanks. I expected a connection with dark matter, however it appears to me they are saying something along the lines of the stars never ignited unlike in typical formation areas. Am I getting it wrong?

 

[CygnusX-1]

The galaxy is mostly dark matter. But for some reason, it never made many stars--maybe because it lost its gas before it could, or maybe because it was spinning so fast its gas was too spread out to do so.

 

[1oldman2]

The galaxy is mostly dark matter. But for some reason, it never made many stars--maybe because it lost its gas before it could, or maybe because it was spinning so fast its gas was too spread out to do so.

Cool, thanks. It will be interesting to see what discoveries come from studying the area.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

Why dark twin? It isn't even an exact copy- they just compliment each other. Why not romanticize the discovery and call it the mysterious mate or dark lover or at least something else more exciting?