26-October-2004, 06:30 PM
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Vulcan Administrator
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Greenbelt, MD
Posts: 26,010
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Dark matter halo a puzzle
Dark Matter Halo Puzzles Astronomers
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Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have discovered a huge halo of dark matter around an isolated elliptical galaxy; an object that shouldn't have such a halo, according to optical observations. The galaxy, NGC 4555, is unusual that it's a large elliptical galaxy which isn't part of a larger cluster of galaxies. It's surrounded by a cloud of gas, twice the size of the galaxy itself, that's been heated to 10-million-degrees Celsius. This gas could only get that hot if it was being constrained by a halo of dark matter ten times the mass of the stars in the galaxy.
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