Discovery of stars sheds new light on dark matter and galactic cannibalism

Nine more stars found in Tucana II, revealing galaxy to be larger than previously thought

The discovery of a handful of stars at the edge of a fossil galaxy has shed new light on dark matter and provided clues of a possible early instance of galactic cannibalism, researchers say.

Tucana II is an ultrafaint dwarf galaxy about 163,000 light years from Earth and is thought to be a remnant from the formation of the earliest galaxies in the universe. It was already known to contain ancient stars, including some with a very low metal content, indicating they formed shortly after the big bang.