Andromeda’s Satellites Are ALL Pointing at Us, And That’s Not Normal

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Why do 36 of Andromeda’s 37 satellite galaxies point toward the Milky Way? This strange alignment presents a serious Andromeda galaxy mystery that defies the Lambda CDM model, the leading theory of cosmology. Discover why this bizarre cosmic imbalance may reveal a deeper dark matter problem in our understanding of the universe.  Credit: Blazars at Galactic North Pole: By NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10505/ NASA Animation Sizes Up the Universe’s Biggest Black Holes: By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14335 Why NASA's Roman Mission Will Study Milky Way's Flickering Lights: By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14438/ Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00A vast galactic mystery has recently baffled astronomers.

00:04They've noticed that all but one of Andromeda's 37 satellite galaxies point toward the Milky Way.

00:11It's so extraordinary that it challenges current cosmology and might provide the answer to the dark matter question.

00:18So it happened like this.

00:20One day, scientists looked at those other satellite galaxies that go around Andromeda and spotted a really weird alignment.

00:27Now, we should keep in mind that Andromeda is kind of like our Milky Way's neighbor.

00:32It's huge, about twice as wide as the Milky Way, stretching 200,000 light-years across.

00:38It also has way more stars, around a trillion, compared to our galaxy's mere 250 to 400 billion.

00:47Just like our galaxy, it has a bunch of tiny galaxies called dwarf galaxies spinning around it.

00:52There are 37 of them.

00:54The strange thing is, almost all of those little galaxies are on the same side of Andromeda.

01:01And it's getting even creepier, because it's the side that faces the Milky Way.

01:06Only one galaxy is hanging out on the other side.

01:10Imagine tossing a bunch of marbles around a tree, with nearly every single marble landing on just one side.

01:16That's weird, isn't it?

01:18Scientists say that this discovery doesn't match what they expected at all.

01:22Their usual space models show that stuff like this should be spread out more evenly.

01:27But this isn't even close to even.

01:30It's so lopsided that they can't really explain it yet.

01:33Those models follow the main space theory we use today, called the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model.

01:39According to this theory, the little galaxy should be spread around Andromeda pretty evenly.

01:45Maybe just a bit lopsided.

01:46But in real life, their distribution is way more uneven than the model said it should be.

01:52The scientists have run tons of simulations, and only about 0.3% of them ended up close to what we actually see.

02:00And still, none of them match the real thing exactly.

02:03So, does it show the Lambda CDM model has flaws?

02:07That would be a big deal, because we normally use this model to explain how the universe works.

02:13If the real sky doesn't match what our model says, especially in a place as close and well-known as Andromeda,

02:20it might mean that we're missing something big.

02:24Another strange thing.

02:26Many of Andromeda's satellites seem to lie in a flat plane instead of being randomly distributed in all directions.

02:33This kind of flattened structure has been seen in other big galaxies, too, including our own.

02:38But it's still not well understood.

02:40Maybe this satellite disk is connected to the weird cosmic asymmetry, but no one really knows how.

02:47In any case, the fact that all the tiny galaxies on Andromeda's side line up almost perfectly in the direction of the Milky Way is super weird.

02:57It makes you wonder, could our galaxy be pulling or affecting them?

03:01But the catch is that nothing like this is happening to the Milky Way's own satellites.

03:06Plus, the gravity between our two galaxies doesn't seem strong enough to do that kind of pulling.

03:13The answer might lie in one of the most mysterious things the universe has to offer.

03:18Dark matter.

03:19Let's start from the very beginning.

03:21We'll go all the way back to the early universe, just after the Big Bang.

03:25Now, back then – hey, I wasn't around then, but I'll tell you anyways – matter in the universe was spread out pretty evenly.

03:32But not perfectly even.

03:34In a few spots, there were just slightly higher amounts of matter than in others – tiny clumps.

03:40Those little differences were important, because gravity could latch onto them.

03:44Over time, those denser regions started pulling in more material, slowly growing into the first structures in the universe.

03:52Astronomers believed that dwarf galaxies were the earliest and smallest building blocks of galaxy formation.

03:58Think of them like Lego bricks – tiny pieces that were later pulled together by gravity to build larger galaxies over billions of years.

04:06Now, when we talk about matter, we mean two different things.

04:11Normal matter, the kind we can see and touch, including atoms, gas, stars, planets, and everything around us.

04:17And dark matter, the invisible kind.

04:20It doesn't give off any light, doesn't absorb it, and doesn't interact with normal matter in the usual ways.

04:26The only reason we know it exists is because of its gravitational pull.

04:31There's also a lot more of it than normal matter.

04:34Scientists think that roughly 85% of all matter in the universe is dark matter.

04:40At the same time, we've never directly detected a dark matter particle.

04:44But we know dark matter is there because it bends light, it holds galaxies together,

04:49they spin too fast to stay intact otherwise, and it shapes the structure of the universe,

04:54allowing us to map its influence on larger scales.

04:57While normal matter can clump together, crash, heat up, cool down, and eventually form stars and galaxies,

05:05dark matter can't do any of that.

05:07It doesn't bump into itself or radiate heat.

05:10But it can still form big, invisible clumps, which we call dark matter halos.

05:15In the early stages of the universe, the halos acted like gravity wells.

05:19They pulled in normal matter, which sank into the centers of those halos and formed the first galaxies.

05:26So, galaxies like the Milky Way or Andromeda might be sitting inside enormous blobs of dark matter that we just can't see.

05:34So, cosmic asymmetry explained?

05:37Eh, not yet.

05:38Scientists are sure that dwarf galaxies are some of the most dark matter-dominated objects in the universe.

05:43In many cases, over 99% of their mass is likely to be dark matter.

05:49That means they give us a unique chance to study dark matter without all the messy gas and stars that exist in larger galaxies.

05:57Researchers use dwarf galaxies to figure out how dark matter clumps together,

06:01or whether there are alternative theories of dark matter, like warm or self-interacting dark matter.

06:06At the moment, the main theory is that dark matter behaves like a cold, clumpy, and slow-moving fluid.

06:14At the same time, it might not be totally cold.

06:18Maybe it has other properties.

06:19Maybe it interacts with itself or with normal matter in subtle ways we haven't discovered yet.

06:25If that's true, it could help explain why satellite galaxies form in strange patterns, like the ones around Andromeda.

06:32In other words, the Lambda-CDM model might indeed have flaws.

06:37According to it, thousands of dwarf galaxies should be orbiting around larger galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda.

06:44But we only see a few dozen.

06:47This is known as the missing satellites problem.

06:50There are other puzzles, too.

06:52For example, Lambda-CDM predicts that dark matter halos should be the densest at the center,

06:57but many dwarf galaxies seem to have cores of their own.

07:01Plus, dwarf satellites around galaxies like Andromeda and the Milky Way seem to lie in thin, co-rotating planes.

07:09And it's something extremely rare in Lambda-CDM simulations.

07:13And finally, some simulated dark matter halos are so massive that they should form bright dwarf galaxies.

07:19But we don't see them.

07:22No wonder astronomers are so interested in dwarf galaxies and the explanation of cosmic asymmetry.

07:27For that, we need more precise measurements of their motions and structures

07:32and simulations that add more realistic physics, like stellar feedback, turbulence, and so on.

07:38Plus, we gotta search for new dwarf galaxies in the local group and beyond,

07:43using better telescopes and deeper surveys.

07:46Now, getting back to Andromeda's weirdly positioned satellites.

07:49If the dark matter theory doesn't work out, there's another possibility that involves large-scale interactions between galaxies.

07:57It could be an old collision or near-miss that shape the current distribution of satellites.

08:03For example, some scientists think a smaller galaxy, Messier 32, might have collided with Andromeda long ago, stirring things up.

08:12Scientists have seen some lopsided shapes in other galaxies before.

08:16But none is weird as what's going on around Andromeda.

08:20Usually, the little galaxies around big ones spread out pretty evenly or are just a bit off.

08:26That makes scientists think Andromeda might be a super-special case.

08:30They say we need to keep looking, using better telescopes to crack the Andromeda galaxy mystery.

08:36And, perhaps, after figuring out the truth, we'll also come closer to solving the dark matter problem.

08:47That's it for today.

08:49So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

08:54Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!

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