Astronomers in Chile discover ‘dark galaxies’ evidenceJuly 12, 2012 - 11:22 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Astronomers in Chile have observed what appears to be evidence of the existence of dark galaxies, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced, according to The Telegraph. Dark galaxies are small, gas-rich galaxies from the early universe that are believed to be the building blocks of today's bright, star-filled galaxies, said the ESO, an intergovernmental organization supported by 15 countries. "For the first time, dark galaxies – an early phase of galaxy formation, predicted by theory but unobserved until now – may have been spotted," the ESO said in a statement. "Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team thinks they have detected these elusive objects by observing them glowing as they are illuminated by a quasar," it said. The ESO is the most advanced astronomical observatory in the world, and operates three sites in Chile. The Very Large Telescope (VLT) array – a cluster of four telescopes that can view objects four billion times fainter than objects visible to the naked eye – is housed at the ESO's Paranal site in Chile's Atacama Desert. "Our approach to the problem of detecting a dark galaxy was simply to shine a bright light on it," researcher Simon Lilly said in the release. "With this study, we've made a crucial step towards revealing and understanding the obscure early stages of galaxy formation and how galaxies acquired their gas," added his colleague, Sebastiano Cantalupo. The ESO is supported by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | International cybercrime ringleaders arrested in Armenia, Ukraine Europol, Europe's crime agency, has arrested four ringleaders of several cybercrime networks that used botnets. Armenia skips CSTO Defense Ministers meeting A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries began in Almaty. Armenian, Iranian foreigh policy chief talk over the phone The Foreign Minister of Armenia once again expressed condolences to his counterpart on the death of the President of Iran. Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. |