Astronomers discover ultra-faint dwarf Andromeda XXXVI orbiting Andromeda Galaxy
Technology
Astronomers have spotted a new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, called Andromeda XXXVI, orbiting our neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy.
It's about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and is believed to be a leftover from the early universe, packed with dark matter but barely any stars.
Giuseppe Donatiello discovery confirmed by GTC
Andromeda XXXVI was first noticed by Giuseppe Donatiello in survey images and later confirmed with deep imaging on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC).
With its old, metal-poor stars and super-faint glow (absolute magnitude -6.0), it's now one of the dimmest known satellites of Andromeda.
Scientists are excited because its high dark matter content could help us understand how galaxies form and test dark matter theories.