#relhic

[thefirststarr]

The above image features a new type of astronomical object which astronomers have nicknamed Cloud-9 and is actually a starless, gas-rich, dark matter cloud- a remnant of early galaxy formation. This phenomenon has been named a Reionization-Limited H I Cloud or “RELHIC” (H I standing for neutral hydrogen).

Most of the universe’s mass is thought to be dark matter, but it is difficult to detect it because of its lack of light emission. Cloud-9 gives astronomers a rare look at a cloud dominated by dark matter. The diffuse magenta is radio data collected from the ground-based Very Large Array (VLA). The circle is the peak of the radio emission and where the search for stars was focused. The objects that appear within its boundaries are background galaxies.

Before Hubble, ground based telescopes only allowed scientists to think that this was a faint dwarf galaxy whose stars could not be seen. However, thanks to Hubble, it can be seen for what it really is.

It is thought that RELHICs are dark matter clouds that couldn’t accumulate enough gas from stars. The cloud may eventually form a galaxy in the future if it grows more massive, however how that would occur is under speculation.

It is located on the outskirts of a nearby spiral galaxy (M94) and is about 14 million lights years from Earth.

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, VLA, Gagandeep Anand (STScl), Alejandro Benitez-Llambay (University of Milano-Bicocca); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScl)

[blasteffect]

Astronomical object Cloud-9 !

Astronomers operating the Hubble Space Telescope have announced the identification of Cloud-9, a starless cosmic cloud dominated by dark matter located 14 million light-years away, a discovery that expands our understanding of the invisible structures of the Universe.

Located near the spiral galaxy Messier 94, Cloud-9 represents the first observational confirmation of an object classified as RELHIC, which until then was only theoretical.

RELHICs are clouds of neutral hydrogen that failed to form stars due to a lack of mass or density, despite the significant presence of dark matter.

NASA, ESA, VLA, Gagandeep Anand (STScI), Alejandro Benitez-Llambay (University of Milan-Bicocca)

[daintybomb]

A new astronomical object has been confirmed, called a RELHIC (Reionization-Limited H I Cloud, H I refers to neutral hydrogen).

RELHICs are clouds from the early times of the Universe dominated and shaped by dark matter, which didn't accumulate enough gas to form stars, and they are considered "failed galaxies".

In the image is a RELHIC dubbed Cloud-9 (just named sequentially as the 9th cloud on the outskirts of a nearby galaxy, Messier 94). It is located 2000 light-years from Earth, and has the mass of about 1 million times the mass of the Sun. The magenta smudge is radio data from the ground-based VLA (Very Large Array) and the dashed circle is the epicenter of radio emission, where a team using the Hubble Space Telescope looked for stars.

There are absolutely no stars within Cloud-9, it turned out, even though it is ~4900 LY in diameter. Another distinctive feature of Cloud-9 is that it is smaller, more compact and weirdly spherical, normal hydrogen clouds usually don't fit these descriptions. Moreover, the object appears to be balancing its own gravity, meaning it might be shaped by enormous amounts of dark matter -~5 billion solar masses.

If Cloud-9 could be more massive, it could start forming stars of its own and eventually, a new galaxy.

Just a gas cloud, but it is a source of more understanding about galaxy formation, the early Universe and the nature of dark matter.

Credit: NASA, ESA. G. Anand (STScI), and A. Benitez-Llambay (Univ. of Milan-Bicocca); Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)