The Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate 32 years since its launch next Sunday, and as every year, the responsible team selected one of the thousands captured to celebrate the anniversary. As you will see on the envelope, corresponds to and a group of five grouped but separate galaxies that offer clues to dark matter.

Few could have expected the longevity of Hubble after discovering the problem of origin in polishing the main mirror, and this, together with the delay due to the Challenger accident, was to make it the biggest fiasco in history. Fortunately, a continuous repair and maintenance program has extended its life, even though its replacement, James Webb, is already in orbit.

This succeeded in continuing this joint project of the American and European space agencies revolution in all areas of astronomical research after observing tens of thousands of celestial bodies in detail and giving us the most beautiful images of the deep Universe. And it can take many years …

Hubble’s 32nd anniversary

Hubble’s team shared an image captured by a telescope, which the researchers describe as a “menagerie”. The group is technically known as Hickson Compact Group (HCG) 40 and shows five separate galaxies, but they are so close in galactic dimensions that collides and merges into a giant galaxy. That will happen in a billion years.

Meanwhile, all five remain close but separate and include three different types of galaxies. Three of the group are spiral galaxies like our Milky Way, one is an elliptical galaxy (smooth and without spiral arms) and the last is a lenticular galaxy, halfway between the spiral galaxy and the elliptical galaxy.

Although it is relatively common to see galaxies and even groups of galaxies close to each other, this particular group is one of the densest according to experts still observed. “The whole group, trapped in a quiet gravitational dance, is so crowded that it would enter an area of ​​space less than twice the diameter of the star disk of our Milky Way.”describe from Hubble’s team.

Normally, dense groups of galaxies are in the middle of huge clusters, but this particular group stands alone, relatively far from other galaxies. Scientists believe it could be because these galaxies are hiding large amounts of dark matter.

Collecting data from such a dense group of galaxies can help astronomers learn about this type of matter, a large unknown, although it is estimated to form 80% of the universe. Physicists know that it must exist based on gravitational effects affecting galaxy motion and cosmic microwave background data, but it remains “invisible matter.”

In the case of HCG 40, there could be a lot of dark matter around all five galaxies that would form a large cloud around it. This cloud provides resistance, which slows down the movement of individual galaxies, connects them and definitely merges into one. Finally, it is hoped that studying these unusually dense groups of galaxies can help astronomers understand how galaxies formed and evolved.

The data will continue to come from Hubble and also from James Webb, much more modern and powerful, allowing you to study the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe after the Big Bang; discover how galaxies evolved in the early days; as stars and planetary systems are born in dusty clouds and also, the search for chemical traces of life on satellites and the composition of the exoplanet’s atmosphere.