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The Dark Galaxy Hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Michael Weisberg ,
Melissa Jacquart ,
Barry Madore  and
Marja Seidel
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Abstract

Gravitational interactions allowed astronomers to conclude that dark matter rings all luminous galaxies in gigantic halos, but this only accounts for a fraction of the total mass of dark matter believed to exist. Where is the rest? We hypothesize that some of it resides in dark galaxies, pure dark matter halos that either never possessed or have totally lost their baryonic matter. This article explores methodological challenges that arise because of the nature of observation in astrophysics and examines how the blend of observation, simulation, and theory we call the Observing the Invisible approach might make detecting such dark objects possible.

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Philosophy of Science , Volume 85 , Issue 5 , December 2018 , pp. 1204 - 1215
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Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (STS-1557138) and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

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