An 'OMG' moment

Dokkum's team used the telescopes in Hawaii to track the motion of several star clusters - each with about 100,000 stars - within the galaxy.

The clusters, they found, traveled at the same speed as the galaxy, itself moving through the Universe. Had there been dark matter, the clusters would be moving slower or faster.

Abrahams recalls seeing the graphic plot showing the motion of DF2's constellations for the first time, and wondering if something was amiss.

"We asked ourselves where we had screwed up, if the measurements were wrong," he said.

"Then I suddenly realized the implications. That's as close to an 'Oh my god' moment as I got."

Whatever the explanation for the reasons it exists, a galaxy with no dark matter poses an ironic challenge to astronomers who question the very existence of the substances, according to the study.

Afp - Reuters