Stellar collisions may have been common when the universe was young
In our solar system's corner of the galaxy, stars rarely collide. It makes sense: Space is vast, and stars have room to roam. Even in most of the present-day universe, stellar collisions are rare. The James Webb Space Telescope, however, peers deep enough into space to see the universe as it was not too long after the Big Bang. Its observations have revealed extraordinarily compact stellar…
Dark matter remains a topic of great interest in the field of astrophysics, with most discussions focusing on its existence rather than the approach to identify and characterize it. Researchers are particularly interested in finding measurements that can reveal the underlying nature of dark matter. By observing the luminous signatures of normal matter within galaxies, scientists can gain valuable insights into the gravitational properties of dark matter halos, helping to determine which models remain viable and which should be discarded.
Simulations can be helpful, but the most crucial aspect is the data collected from novel locations and the most precise laboratories. This is why the recent discovery of the first extragalactic globular cluster stellar stream in an ultra-diffuse galaxy is so exciting. Not only is it the first of its kind, but the galaxy in which it is found is exceptionally rich in dark matter and poor in normal matter, making it an ideal laboratory for probing the gravitational nature and distribution of dark matter.
Julie Kiel Holm, a PhD candidate at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, is the discoverer of this remarkable finding. In this podcast episode, she shares her insights and the significance of this groundbreaking discovery.
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