Triangulum II is Dead Galaxy having Dark Matter
Triangulum II, a tiny galaxy in the constellation Triangulum, is present at the edge of our Milky Way galaxy. Milky Way has over 100 billion stars, while the small spiral galaxy has just 1,000 stars. As per astronomers, days of star formation of the galaxy are over, and currently it is considered as a dead galaxy. But the galaxy still has a dark secret, which could make it an interesting topic of discussions.
Researchers said the galaxy may have the highest dark matter concentration ever found within a galaxy. In a study published by the Astrophysical Journal Letters on Tuesday, the researchers said the dark matter could be the reason Triangulum II has less number of stars as compared to the Milky Way.
Dark matter has been a matter of research for scientists from a long time. Currently, they are trying to find out how little dark matter is linked to the Universe. As per their estimations, it is interacting perplexingly little, but it is enough to make the interaction in interesting.
In the study, the researchers have been detecting the hypothetical kind of matter based on its effects. Evan Kirby, Caltech Assistant Professor of Astronomy and an author of the study, said, “The total mass I measured was much, much greater than the mass of the total number of stars-implying that there’s a ton of densely packed dark matter contributing to the total mass”.
According to the author, the dark matter ratio to luminous matter is the highest of any galaxy.