Mystery ‘dark galaxy’ planned for future study at Green Bank

GREEN BANK, W.Va. (WBOY) — A galaxy with no visible stars is already planned for future observation at the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) after the initial announcement of its discovery in January.

The galaxy, named J0613+52, was originally discovered by accident and is made up entirely of gas. Although galaxy-sized gas pockets have been observed before, a senior researcher at the Green Bank Observatory said there are a few things that make J0613+52 unique.

Senior Scientist at Green Bank Karen O’Neil said in an interview with 12 News that one of those things is its isolation. O’Neil explained that like people, galaxies like to be in groups, and when galaxies group together their gravity begins to affect one another. Galaxies can pull each other apart, merge into one, or even steal all the stars from another galaxy, leaving behind an empty cloud of gas.

“What’s really different about this one is not only is it a big galaxy-sized bunch of gas without any stars we can see, but it also doesn’t have any nearby other galaxies,” O’Neil said. “So that means that this can’t be just the remnant of some galaxy-galaxy interaction. It’s got to be something that’s been pretty stationary over time, and that’s pretty exciting.”

J0613+52 is a Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxy. As the name implies, LSB galaxies are extremely dim and are difficult to detect using optical telescopes. This makes the Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT), the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world, an ideal candidate for further observation of J0613+52. However, O’Neil said that there are still plans to deeply observe J0613+52 with optical telescopes to find traces of stars in the galaxy, if they exist at all.

O’Niel will also be looking for other celestial objects close to J0613+52 and plans to create a kind of star map around the area.

“We want to see whether or not it’s out there by itself or whether there’s other gas clouds surrounding it. It might be little, tiny gas clouds feeding it or really big, galaxy-sized gas clouds surrounding it,” O’Neil said. “It would be exciting any way you look at it.”

However, one of the potential roadblocks to O’Niel’s research into J0613+52 is time. Specifically observation time. Because there are far more researchers than there are telescopes, observatories like Green Bank have to plan what will be observed (and for how long) months in advance. For example, if you want to observe something in August 2024, you have to submit your request eight months earlier in January.

O’Neil was allotted 160 hours of observation time with the Green Bank Telescope, which still may not be enough.

“The amount of telescope time it takes to map around this object is quite high. And to be completely honest… are we going to get lucky enough to find another one of these [objects] just nearby [J0613+52]? Maybe, maybe not,” O’Neil said.

But, no matter the results of O’Neil’s research, it’s a fact that the Green Bank Telescope remains one of the most powerful astronomical tools out there, even 23 years after it was built. The NSF GBT likely stands the best chance at detecting something, if there’s anything to see. If the telescope can find unique discoveries like J0613+52 on accident, who knows what we’ll find with dedicated observation?

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