Lambda Cold Dark Mattermodel tagged posts

This is a dwarf galaxy with a starburst. Credit: UC Riverside

Astronomers use computer simulations based on theoretical models to explain massive star formation observed in dwarf galaxies. One of the main predictions of the current model of the creation of structures in the universe, known at the Lambda Cold Dark Mattermodel, is that galaxies are embedded in very extended and massive halos of dark matter surrounded by many thousands of smaller sub-halos also made from dark matter.

Around large galaxies, eg Milky Way, these dark matter sub-halos are large enough to host enough gas and dust to form small galaxies on their own, and some of these galactic companions, known as satellite galaxies, can be observed...