Hubble Probes Cloud-9: New Object Type Unveiled

Explore Hubble

6 Min Read

A region of space mostly filled with background galaxies, with one prominent star at upper left. A large blob of purple haze occupies much of the field. Within the purple region, an unremarkable area is outlined with a dashed white circle.

Magenta is radio data from the ground-based Very Large Array showing the presence of Cloud-9. The dashed circle marks the peak of radio emission, which is where researchers focused their search for stars. Hubble found no stars within Cloud-9. The few objects within its boundaries are background galaxies.

Credits:

NASA, ESA, VLA, Gagandeep Anand (STScI), Alejandro Benitez-Llambay (University of Milano-Bicocca); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

A team using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object - a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud considered a "relic" or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed "Cloud-9," this is the first confirmed detection of such an object in the universe - a finding that furthers the understanding of galaxy formation, the early universe, and the nature of dark matter itself.

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