American astronomers from Yale University have found that the previously discovered "superdark" galaxy Dragonfly 44 is 99.99% invisible and intangible dark matter, writes Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Experts note that this galaxy is ideal for studying the properties of dark matter.
Astronomers learned that stars account for only 0.01% of the galaxy's mass in the Dragonfly 44 galaxy by analyzing the speed of the stars. The mass of this galaxy is approximately equal to the mass of the Milky Way, although there are much fewer stars in it.
"The stars do not care what form matter has - visible or" dark "- they move, and the speed of their movement reveals information about the structure of the galaxy to us," said Peter van Dokkum, an employee of Yale University.
When calculating the fraction of dark matter, scientists started from data on close "families" of stars that are located on the outskirts of galaxies. The observations were carried out with the Keck telescope in the Hawaiian Islands.
Superdark galaxies were discovered with the DTA telescope in 2015. Using this telescope, scientists have identified about fifty very small and deserted galaxies in the constellation Coma Veronica.
According to scientists, these galaxies contain about as many stars as the smallest dwarf galaxies, but they take up about 100 times more space. By studying these galaxies, scientists have found that they keep huge clusters of dark matter from decaying.
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