Upon first glance, the shot taken by the Hubble Space Telescope may seem to be utter emptiness. However, if one takes a close look, one may see stars scatter across the image's center. This is actually part of the mysterious dwarf galaxy, Donatiello II.
Discovering Faint Galaxies
According to SciTechDaily, Donatiello II is among the three different recently discovered galaxies that were hard to identify. This difficulty was due to all of them being undetected by an algorithm that was originally designed to browse through astronomical information to see if any potential galaxies can be found.
Even the highest-powered algorithms have drawbacks of their own when it comes to tracing galaxies that are extremely faint. It is hard to differentiate these galaxies from noise and other stars. In the most difficult cases, discovering such galaxies must be done traditionally, which means that humans may have to search through the data on their own.
According to the Universe Magazine, such discoveries were enabled by data gathered by the DES (Dark Energy Survey). While studying images that were publicly available, amateur astronomer Giuseppe Donatello noticed that specialists bypassed many galaxies. Donatello spent time looking into, processing, and analyzing data from the DES. SciTechDaily reports that each of the three is a satellite of NGC 253, a famous Sculptor galaxy. This implies that each galaxy is gravitationally bound to a bigger constituent.
It was then that he was able to discover the presence of galaxies Donatiello II, III, and IV. The specialists decided to honor his discovery by naming the galaxies based on the amateur astronomer's very own.
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Donatiello II: Mysterious Dwarf Galaxy
Later on, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to successfully snap the particular area.
ESA on Twitter: " The NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope has captured the newly discovered dwarf galaxy known as Donatiello II. It was a difficult identification case, the discovery had to be done the old-fashioned way - by a person going through the data themselves!https://t.co/Edr16TWkF2 pic.twitter.com/3x21CcYJzC / Twitter"
The NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope has captured the newly discovered dwarf galaxy known as Donatiello II. It was a difficult identification case, the discovery had to be done the old-fashioned way - by a person going through the data themselves!https://t.co/Edr16TWkF2 pic.twitter.com/3x21CcYJzC
A team directed by Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil conducted independent research using Hubble to get long-exposure shots of these subtle galaxies. Through the shots taken by Hubble, the researchers verified that the galaxies were indeed linked to NGC 253. More specifically, they were seen to be moons of this prominent Sculptor galaxy.
Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries
Aside from capturing this faint and mysterious dwarf galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope has also been used to shed light on various cosmic mysteries. According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, the space telescope has helped shed light on the age of the universe. More specifically, the universe has been revealed to be 13.8 billion years old, which is around three times earth's age.
Other than this, the space telescope has also discovered the two Plutonian moons known as Hydra and Nix. It has also assisted in determining the universe's rate of expansion.
Though the telescope is relatively average compared to other modern devices, it still manages to outperform several telescopes. The Royal Museums Greenwich also reports how the telescope is still thought to be the pinnacle of UV and optical astronomy.
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