Galactic Game Changer: Unveiling the Hidden Satellites of the Milky Way

Researchers discovered two new satellite galaxies of the Milky Way using the Subaru telescope, hinting at a higher number of satellites than previously thought and indicating a shift from a deficit to a surplus in expected galaxy counts.

For years, astronomers have worried about how to explain why the Milky Way has fewer satellite galaxies than the standard dark matter model predicts. This is called the “missing satellites problem.” In order to bring us closer to solving this problem, an international team of researchers used data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) to discover two completely new satellite galaxies.

These results were recently published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan by a team of researchers from Japan, Taiwan, and America.

The Role of Satellite Galaxies in Understanding Dark Matter
We live in a galaxy called The Milky Way, which has other, smaller galaxies orbiting it called satellite galaxies. Studying these satellite galaxies can help researchers unravel mysteries surrounding dark matter, and better understand how galaxies evolve over time.