--- title: "A massive galaxy with little to no dark matter is puzzling scientists from all over the world." description: "A massive galaxy with little to no dark matter is puzzling scientists from all over the world." author: "Yashna Bawa" published: 2023-07-24 updated: 2023-07-24 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/news/3216/a-massive-galaxy-with-little-to-no-dark-matter-is-puzzling-scientists-from-all-over-the-world category: "news" tags: ["news"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # A massive galaxy with little to no dark matter is puzzling scientists from all over the world. A team of scientists has discovered a massive galaxy with little to no dark matter, [challenging](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2240/in-a-u-s-lawsuit-challenging-facebook-s-virtual-reality-agreement-mark-zuckerberg-will-testify) our current understanding of how the universe works. The galaxy, called NGC 1277, is located about 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. It is several times more massive than the Milky Way, but it contains only a fraction of the dark matter that is thought to be present in other [galaxies of its size.](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/84757/james-webb-space-telescope-spots-gigantic-old-galaxies) Dark matter is a mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe. It cannot be seen directly, but its [presence](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12492/how-to-enhance-your-presence-on-facebook) is inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter. The [discovery](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/34385/understanding-the-discovery-phase-in-software-development-part-1) of a massive galaxy with little to no dark matter suggests that [our understanding](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115266/how-did-stephen-hawking-contribute-to-our-understanding-of-the-universe-despite-his-illness) of [dark matter may be incomplete.](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2767/a-new-map-of-the-universe-s-stuff-shows-a-potential-gap-in-our-knowledge-of-the-universe) "This is a very puzzling galaxy," said Sébastien Comerón, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain who led the study. "It doesn't fit in with our current models of how galaxies form and evolve." One possible [explanation](https://answers.mindstick.com/blog/94/neural-network-simple-explanation-with-real-life-examples) for the lack of dark matter in NGC 1277 is that it was formed in a different way than other galaxies. The galaxy is located in a [cluster](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/22873/what-is-class-cluster) of galaxies, and it is possible that it was stripped of its dark matter by the gravitational forces of its neighbors. Another possibility is that NGC 1277 is simply a very rare galaxy that does not contain any dark matter. The discovery of NGC 1277 is a reminder that we still have much to learn about the universe. The galaxy [challenges](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/325216/challenges-faced-by-technologists-while-performing-the-cloud-migration-process) our current understanding of dark matter, and it will be interesting to see what new [insights](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/333132/the-power-of-big-data-unleashing-insights-for-business-growth) scientists can gain from further study. --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/news/3216/a-massive-galaxy-with-little-to-no-dark-matter-is-puzzling-scientists-from-all-over-the-world Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.