Galaxy confirmed to be free of dark matter
Our ideas about dark matter could be about to turn on their head, as astronomers have confirmed galaxy AGC 114905 appears to be free of dark matter.
The galaxy is an ultra-diffuse dwarf galaxy, meaning that despite being the same size as the Milky Way, it contains 1,000 times fewer stars. It was one of six galaxies found in 2019, which appeared to be devoid of dark matter – something that our current theories of how galaxies and dark matter works says should be impossible. Even alternate theories such as modified Newtonian dynamics struggle to explain the galaxy’s existence.
But such an extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence and so a team of astronomers, led by Pavel Mancera Piña from the University
