Just like the moon bound to the earth, the Andromeda star system (M31) is quoted around by dozens of dwarf satellite systems. But astronomers have discovered Something strange – they are all clustered on one side, creepy aligned in the direction of our Melkweg, the Melkweg.
This crooked set -up defies, with simulations that only suggest a chance of 0.3% that such an unnatural distribution takes place randomly.
“M31 is the only system that we know that such an extreme degree of asymmetry shows,” says lead researcher Kosuke Jamie Kanehisa.
Current models predict that satellite systems should randomly spread around their host, formed by the invisible attraction of Dark Matter. Nevertheless, the satellites of Andromeda violate the lines-36 of his 37 well-known dwarfs in a narrow arch of 107 degrees, with half in the track around a single flat surface such as planets around a star.
What could this cosmic peculiarity explain? Some suggest that we miss hidden dwarf systems that would balance distribution. Or perhaps the violent past of Andromeda-included a colossal merger 2-3 billion years ago his satellites in this strange configuration.
“The fact that we see the satellites of M31 in this unstable configuration today … may indicate many who have recently fallen,” said Kanehisa Space.com.
The most radical possibility? Our understanding of the formation of the Melkweg is incomplete. If dark matter behaves differently than predicted, or if the attitude of Andromeda is not as rare as we think, the cosmology itself must be reworked.
“We cannot yet be sure that similar extreme systems do not exist,” admits Kanhisa.
While we peer deeper into space, a question still chases: are the makers of this simulation just trolling us?
