The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile just spotted two hidden neighbors of our galaxy, a faint galaxy called Aquarius IV, sitting 355,000 light-years away, and a star cluster named Rubin-GC1 that was tucked behind cosmic dust.
These finds show off the observatory's power to reveal things we've never seen before.
Rubin Observatory survey maps 7% sky
Rubin Observatory only started its 10-year survey in June and has mapped just 7% of the sky so far, but it's already making big discoveries.
By spotting these hard-to-find companions, scientists hope to learn more about how our galaxy formed and what role mysterious dark matter plays in shaping the universe.