Dwarf galaxies dancing around larger ones question universe formation theories

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Several dwarf galaxies that 'dance' throughout the universe in arranged disc-shaped orbits around larger ones makes it more difficult to understand how the universe was formed and evolved, according to a new study.

Professor Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney's School of Physics, said that early in 2013 they announced their startling discovery that half of the dwarf galaxies surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy were orbiting it in an immense plane and this plane was more than a million light years in diameter, but was very thin, with a width of only 300 000 light years.

Professor Geraint Lewis said that everywhere they looked they saw this strangely coherent coordinated motion of dwarf galaxies and from this they could extrapolate that these circular planes of dancing dwarfs were universal, seen in about 50 percent of galaxies.

Lead author Neil Ibata of the Lycee International in Strasbourg, France, said that they were surprised to find that a large proportion of pairs of satellite galaxies had oppositely directed velocities if they were situated on opposite sides of their giant galaxy hosts.