Mysterious new cosmic discovery made by Nasas Hubble telescope
Independent2 days
Hubble Confirms First Starless 'Failed Galaxy' Cloud-9
Is Cloud-9 a groundbreaking validation of dark matter theory, or just a premature classification of an anomaly?
Above: Cloud-9, a starless gas cloud, detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA via X
The Spin
Narrative A
Cloud-9 matters because it provides strong new evidence that dark matter exists even where no galaxy ever formed. By showing a massive cloud of gas shaped by gravity but containing no stars — a so-called “failed galaxy” — Hubble reveals a structure that can only be held together by unseen mass. This confirms a core prediction of dark-matter theory: that the universe is filled with invisible dark-matter halos, many of which never became galaxies at all.
Narrative B
The RELHIC classification remains premature without discovering similar objects to confirm Cloud-9 isn't just an anomaly. Its irregular shape contradicts theoretical expectations for such pristine remnants, and alternative explanations like circumgalactic gas interactions haven't been definitively ruled out. Confirming absolute starlessness proves nearly impossible given observational limits.
Metaculus Prediction
There's a 54% chance that we will know what Dark Matter is before 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.0