A very dark satellite galaxy has been spotted near the Milky Way. The Mystery of the Newly Discovered Dark Galaxy
Virgo I satellite galaxy
An international team of astronomers led by Daisuke Homma from the Institute of Astronomy at Tohoku University (Japan) has discovered an object that accompanies the Milky Way on its path through the Universe (note: our Galaxy, together with neighboring Andromeda and Triangulum, form a Local Group that moves synchronously in an unknown direction, probably under the influence of some supermassive object).
The find is classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy Virgo I. Its size is only 248 light-years in diameter and its distance from the Sun is 280,000 light-years. 
Local group
Although the direction of movement of the Local Group is not known, we can study our small companions - dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph), which accompany the Local Group in its movement. Studying these galaxies allows us to better understand the nature of gravity and the essence of dark matter, which presumably holds these galaxies together.
Near Milky Way About 50 satellite galaxies have already been discovered, and about 40 of them are dim, that is, largely composed of dark matter. These 40 galaxies belong to the class of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, including the Virgo I galaxy. Blue squares indicate the LMC and MMC, noticed by our ancestors back in prehistoric times
The discovery of Japanese astronomers, Virgo I, is one of the darkest galaxies discovered to date. This means that the proportion of dark matter in it is very large. Actually, this fact explains the circumstance why this galaxy has not yet been noticed.
After such a discovery, scientists believe that our Milky Way may have much more more satellites than we expected. The number of galaxies around us, almost invisible to our eyes, consisting mainly of dark matter, can be very large. Maybe around us hundreds such galaxies.
The discovery of a large dark galaxy right next to us is the key to solving the problem of missing satellites. In fact, based on numerical cosmological modeling, dark matter in the Universe should be distributed in a hierarchical cluster, giving rise to galactic halos of smaller and smaller sizes. However, actual observations by astronomers give us a different picture than the theory predicts. According to observations, in space it is quite sufficient quantity galaxies normal size for the distribution predicted mathematical model, but there are clearly not enough dwarf galaxies. The number of dwarf galaxies we observe is approximately by an order of magnitude less than expected. See the calculation by Anatoly Klypin and Andrey Kravtsov from State University New Mexico (USA) with colleagues.
Digital camera Hyper Suprime-Cam compared to a small girl 158 cm tall
Vitro I is one of the darkest galaxies found to date. What's great about this discovery is that it gives reason to hope for the discovery of other dwarf spheroidal galaxies near the Milky Way, of which there should be around 500. Perhaps many such objects will be found in the near future. Their mass and location will allow us to better understand how dark matter is distributed in the Universe. In particular, near our Galaxy. How the Milky Way was formed and what is the role of dark matter in this.
Awesomeness modern science consists in the fact that she is almost more interested in those phenomena and phenomena that so far exist only in hypotheses, rather than those that are real and have been observed for a long time. With regard to the study of space, this approach is the most common and is especially evident in the consideration of the problem of dark galaxies.
The Dark Side of the Universe
The hypothesis about the existence of dark galaxies is based on the recognition of the existence in the Universe of a substance opposite to matter, matter - antimatter, dark matter. Dark matter itself is a given and does not need proof - ordinary galaxies and star systems, including ours solar system, consists of both matter and antimatter. But the observed galaxies in which great amount stars, in their “composition” have a significant proportion of matter (cosmic dust, asteroids 
, planets and their satellites, stars). It would be logical to assume that there are galaxies in which the ratio of matter and antimatter is different and there is much more dark matter in them than matter itself.
Of course, such an assumption appeared, it took shape in the hypothesis of dark galaxies, which formulated that dark galaxies are galaxies in which the antimatter content 
exceeds the content of matter, there are very few stars present or even none at all. Moreover, the structural connections in such galaxies in some way, still unknown to science, are formed by dark matter. There is no official evidence of the presence of dark galaxies yet, but this problem is the subject of serious scientific research, since there are indirect signs of dark galaxies. The fact is that galaxies move in the Universe and often influence each other with their gravitational fields, causing their stars to move. And there are several cases when the movements of stars, characteristic of the influence of the gravity of another galaxy, are evident, but no other galaxy is visible nearby. Perhaps it is dark galaxies that have this effect. But there are directly opposite opinions about how many dark galaxies there can be: from the assumption that there are twenty times fewer dark galaxies than normal galaxies, to the version that there are a hundred times more dark galaxies than “normal” galaxies.
Contender: The Core of the Invisible Galaxy
There are several candidates to be considered confirmation of the dark galaxy hypothesis; three of them can be distinguished. The object, codenamed HE0450-2958, is a quasar with unexplained characteristics. A quasar is the name given to the core of a galaxy, characterized by an unusually bright glow, which in its intensity can exceed the total brightness of all the stars in many galaxies. So, this quasar meets all the conditions for the nucleus of a galaxy, except one - no galaxy was discovered near it. The galactic nucleus is present, but the galaxy itself cannot be detected.
Naturally, this phenomenon greatly inspired supporters of the dark galaxy hypothesis - in their opinion, there is a galaxy around the quasar, it just consists predominantly of dark matter 
, therefore cannot be detected. Alternative opinions have also arisen, the most reasonable of which is that the galaxy actually exists, simply due to the influence of a nearby black hole it is so small that it is not visible from Earth due to the strong glow of its own core, the quasar. However, at present, this version has not yet been confirmed by observational data: no signs of a “normal galaxy” have been found at all, which is suspicious even taking into account the black hole factor.
Virgo Challenger
The second contender, bearing the “name” VIRGOHI21, is even more mysterious than the first contender for the honor of becoming a confirmed dark galaxy. In that case, at least there is a visible phenomenon, a quasar, but here it is customary to talk only about an “object” in the constellation Virgo. Several years ago, when observing one of the galaxies of this constellation, undoubted traces of active gravitational influence on this galaxy were discovered, and some scientists even expressed the opinion of a collision of galaxies. But scientists could not see any second galaxy in this area, located at a distance of 50 million light years from Earth.
Judging by the influences exerted on the visible galaxy, the object that exerted this influence must be a galaxy, and their interaction lasts for at least one hundred million years. However, at the place where this object is hypothetically located, even with the use of the most modern and powerful telescopes, they still cannot detect a single visible star. The only option that opponents of the idea of the existence of dark galaxies can offer is a rather chaotic assumption that the object VIRGOHI21 may be a kind of “piece” of antimatter, which for some reason was formed in the early stages of the history of the Universe and has since been traveling through its expanses .
Contender: Dwarf Galaxy
The honor of being called the third contender for the right to be a dark galaxy belongs to a dwarf galaxy, which is a satellite of the Milky Way and designated as Segue 1. At the time of the initial discovery of this galaxy, in 2008, there was an opinion that it was not a galaxy at all, but simply a random cluster of stars, somehow “fell out” of the Milky Way. Since only about a thousand visible stars were discovered, which is incredibly small for a “normal” galaxy. But after data on the mass of Segue 1 and the speed of movement of the stars in it were obtained, the first timid conversations that perhaps this was a dark galaxy became much more confident.
The fact is that the mass of the supposedly dwarf galaxy is 3400 times greater than the maximum mass that, according to calculations, the visible stars located in it should have. As for the movement of these stars, if there were only a thousand of those same stars in a given region of the Universe, then they would all move relative to the Milky Way at approximately the same speed of 209 kilometers per second. But different stars in Segue 1 have different speeds, ranging from 194 kilometers per second to a speed of 224 kilometers per second. This means that in the galaxy in question there is a huge amount of “something” that communicates to various stars different speed. It is likely that this “something” is dark matter, in which case Segue 1 is a dark galaxy.
Alexander Babitsky
Dark Galaxy- a hypothetical object of galactic size that contains very few or no stars (hence the “dark”), held together by dark matter. It may also contain gas and dust. Although there are some potential candidates, the existence of dark galaxies has not been confirmed to date.
Candidates
HE0450-2958
HE0450-2958 is an unusual quasar with no galaxy detected around it. It is speculated that this may be a dark galaxy in which a quasar has become active. However, subsequent observations showed that a normal galaxy was likely present.
VIRGOHI21
About the opening VIRGOHI21 was announced in February 2005, and this object became the first good candidate for a true dark galaxy. It was discovered after studying the radio emission of hydrogen (HI) at a wavelength of 21 cm. Its dynamics appear to be inconsistent with the predictions of the MOND theory. Some researchers have since considered it possible that VIRGOHI21 is a dark galaxy, and that it represents the “tidal tail” of the nearby galaxy M99, which is experiencing gravitational disturbances as it enters the Virgo cluster.
Dragonfly 44
Dragonfly 44 was discovered in 2015. It has low brightness (it emits 1% of the amount of light that the Milky Way emits) and extremely low density: with a diameter of about 60,000 light-years, it contains less than a billion stars. In a study published at the end of August 2016, scientists calculated the mass of Dragonfly 44 by studying the speed of movements of stars and their clusters in the galaxy. The mass turned out to be equal to one trillion masses of the Sun, which is close to the mass of the Milky Way, but stars and gas account for only 0.01% of this number. Thus, astronomers concluded that the galaxy consists almost entirely of dark matter.
The unexpected discovery of a massive Milky Way-sized system made mostly of dark matter changes theories about how galaxies form.
Among the more than 1,000 galaxies in the Coma Cluster, a massive collection of matter some 300 million light-years away, there is at least one galaxy that shouldn't exist.
Dragonfly 44 is a dim galaxy, with about one star for every hundred in our Milky Way. But it takes up about the same amount of space as the Milky Way. In addition, according to data published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters at the end of August, Dragonfly is comparable in mass to our galaxy. It's a strange combination: it's so dark, so wide, so massive, and some astronomers think it will force us to reconsider our theories of galaxy formation or help us understand the properties of dark matter, the mysterious material that interacts with normal matter through gravity.
The discovery happened almost by accident. Astronomers Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University and Roberto Abraham of the University of Toronto tested theories about how galaxies form by searching for structures that are invisible even with sophisticated telescopes: faint, thin and extended objects in the distance. starry sky. Their team created the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a group of modified Canon lenses that focuses light onto commercial camera sensors. This system was configured to cut out any stray light within the star cluster that might be hiding the dim object.
You've been on board a ship for several months and suddenly someone shouts: Earth! But this land is not on the map.
The plan was to study the faint streaks of light from nearby galaxies. But the famous Coma cluster - a cluster of giant structures that long ago inspired astronomer Fritz Zwicky to present a hypothesis about the existence of dark matter - attracted the attention of researchers. “Basically, we just couldn't resist taking a look at Kom,” says Abraham. “You can think of this discovery as a result of a lack of discipline.” They planned to study the intracluster Coma light, a faint glow found between galaxies within a cluster.
Instead, they found 47 persistent faint sunspots, each as wide as the Milky Way. However, according to generally accepted models of galaxy formation, anything this big shouldn't be this dim.
In theoretical models, clumps of dark matter fill the universe along with light. First, dark matter clouds coalesce into relatively dense structures. The gas and fragments of other galaxies are then compressed at the center under the influence of gravity. They stretch into a disk and turn into luminous stars - what we eventually see in telescopes. This whole process is quite predictable for large galaxies such as our Milky Way. Having data on the dark matter halo or the number of stars, you can establish another factor with an accuracy that is a multiple of two.
Dark Galaxy Dragonfly 44. The scale corresponds to a distance of 10 kiloparsecs or approximately 33,000 light years (Pieter van Dokkum, Roberto Abraham, Gemini Observatory / AURA)
“This is not just dogma. There are no known exceptions to this rule,” says Jeremy Ostriker, an astrophysicist at Columbia University.
After Abraham and van Dokkum realized that they appeared to be observing 47 exceptions, they began searching the literature. They found that similar fuzzy clumps had been on the verge of discovery since the 1970s. Van Dokkum believes that astronomy's transition from photographic plates - which may be better suited to capturing expanded, blurry objects - to modern digital sensors may have hidden them from further study.
Abraham and van Dokkum first noticed these spots in the spring of 2014. Since then, similar "ultra-diffuse galaxies" (UDGs) have been discovered in other galaxy clusters, such as the Virgo and Fornax clusters. And in the Coma cluster, according to one study, there may be more than a thousand of them, including 332 almost as large as the Milky Way.
At the same time, the Dragonfly team is working on the theory that these dim galaxies are exceptions that contradict existing theory, failed galaxies. Dark matter creates the rudiments of a spiral disk and stars, but for some reason the luminous structure does not develop in them.
This version appeals to experts like Ostriker, who considers van Dokkum's previous records to be highly credible. “There are plenty of other people who could have discovered this if they had been more skeptical,” Ostriker said. “The easiest way to explain this mystery is to accept that it is correct.”
However, not everyone agrees with this version. Although UDGs can be large, they are not necessarily massive. One idea is that these UDGs could be lightweight galaxies that appear swollen because they are caught in the gravitational ebb and flow of the Coma cluster.
Tomato Galaxy F1 was bred by American breeders in 2012. The rare variety of tomato, as well as the unusual nature of the fruit, distinguish it from the general range of tomatoes. It has a rich taste and extraordinary yield.
The bush is medium-sized, determinate and belongs to rare varieties of tomatoes. The plant is recommended for cultivation in open ground, but there are cases of growing Dark Galaxy F1 tomatoes in a greenhouse. The bush requires shaping and pinching. Also, due to the thin stem, it is recommended to tie the tomatoes to a support.
The inflorescences are simple and about 7 tomatoes are formed on one cluster. The leaf is dark green and medium in size. Culture has a very good yield. The tomato is average in terms of ripening. Ripe tomatoes are obtained on the 110th day.
Description of fruits
The fruits of the Dark Galaxy variety are small, with an average weight of 70-100 grams. The most unusual thing is the coloring of the fruits, which is why the crop received such a mysterious name. At the ripe stage, the tomatoes are brick-colored, and purple shoulders can be seen at the top.
If you look at the fruit from afar, you can imagine a mini-galaxy.
When cut, the tomato has a bright red color. It has a rich sweetish taste. The fruits are characterized by versatility and are used both in fresh, and canned. Tomatoes of this variety are used for commercial purposes due to their unique appearance, good keeping quality and transportability.
The fruit has medicinal properties and is good for allergy sufferers and diabetics who do not eat red tomatoes. Tomato contains a large number of beta-carotene and lycopene.
How to sow and care
Seeds are planted at the end of March. Before sowing, they are treated with a weak solution of manganese to prevent them from being damaged by fungus or other pests. Seeds should not be planted deep into well-fertilized soil. Humus or peat is suitable as a fertilizer. After the seeds hatch and the first adult leaves appear, it is necessary to start picking in order for the plant to get stronger.
On day 65, the seedling is considered mature and can be planted in open ground. Before planting, it is better to harden off the plants.
This is done by taking the seedlings out for a couple of hours. Fresh air. The plant is not very large and tall, so square meter 5-6 plants are planted. Before planting the plant, the ground must be treated with a manganese solution. In order to prevent possible diseases.
Maintenance is simple and consists of regular watering, loosening the soil and periodically feeding the plant.