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tl;dr We found a globular cluster stellar stream candidate in another galaxy! If this holds up, this will be an important new chapter in stellar stream and dark matter research. (w/ @spacewsarah.bsky.social @jakenibauer.bsky.social and more) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comEvidence for the first globular cluster stellar stream beyond the Milky Way - NatureDeep Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the ultra-diffuse galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1 reveals an extragalactic globular cluster stream, with analysis and modelling probing the rich dark matter content of the h...

13/8/26, 1:47 pm8 reposts32 likes

Adrian Price-Whelan

@adrian.pw

13 Aug

Stellar streams like this one form as star clusters orbit around their host galaxy. We know of >100 candidate star cluster streams around our galaxy, the Milky Way - here's a visualization of some of the most well-studied streams: adrian.pw/visualizatio...

adrian.pwMilky Way Stellar Streams

Adrian Price-Whelan

@adrian.pw

13 Aug

Streams from star clusters are very important tools for studying dark matter because they are sensitive to small clumps of mass. The amount of clumpiness in the dark matter is related to the particle physics properties of whatever makes up the otherwise invisible stuff.

Adrian Price-Whelan

@adrian.pw

13 Aug

Star cluster streams are faint, contain relatively few stars, and hard to find even within our own galaxy. So it's no surprise it has taken a while to find them in other galaxies! This is something @spacewsarah.bsky.social has pioneered over the last decade.