Cosmic Plankton
The many small star systems in our galactic environment behave very differently than would be expected according to simulations. This does not fit the standard cosmological model.
When you imagine the creatures of the oceans, what comes to mind first? Are they majestic whales, maybe squid, dolphins or sharks? A lot of things probably come to mind spontaneously, just not the plankton. Nothing is as numerous in the sea as these floating organisms. It's very similar in the universe. When we think of the cosmos, we immediately picture images of fascinating spiral galaxies and vast nebulae with captivating shapes and colors. On the other hand, other structures eke out a little-noticed existence, although they provide the largest food supply in the universe, so to speak: the dwarf galaxies. The small star systems drive the growth of the larger structures.
Therefore, a close look at the dwarf galaxies is essential to understand the interaction of all objects in the cosmos. Inconsistencies have been piling up lately. The observations do not seem to fit well with the predictions of the Standard Model of cosmology, which assumes the existence of dark matter of a nature unknown to date. But first things first.
In the 1930s, Harlow Shapley of Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aimed what was then the world's largest telescope at the night sky and made an amazing discovery: an unknown type of galaxy…
