A huge cluster about 9,800 light years long, a hydrogen cloud "armored" with dark matter, is heading to the Milky Way and its collision with stars and planets will be inevitable, scientists reported.
It's an immense cloud that could have been a galaxy once; however, it does not contain the characteristics and elements needed to produce stars, reported Universe Today.
Under normal conditions, this cluster, known as "Smith Cloud" would have disintegrated millions of years ago when it first crashed against our galaxy, but a cover of dark matter has kept it united all this time.
According to a new analysis made by Robert C. Byrd of the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), reported Laboratory Equipment, the halo of dark matter covering the Smith Cloud is actually a failed dwarf galaxy.
"The 'Smith Cloud' is really one of a kind. It's fast, very big, and it's close enough to be studied in detail. It's also a mystery, an object such as this should simply not survive a trip through the Milky Way," said Matthew Nichols, of the Sauverny Observatory in Switzerland and the main researcher of a study published recently in Monthly Noticed of the Royal Astronomical Society, according to the quoted source.
So far, calculations made by scientists have found that the Smith Cloud is advancing at a speed of 300 km per second, an impressive speed which will lead it to crash against our galaxy in 30 million years.
Nichols said, however, that the presence of dark matter in the cluster is yet to be confirmed, despite all the theoretical calculations suggesting its existence. Furthermore, the study on the Smith Cloud will yield new information on how the Milky Way was formed and how it evolved.
You can download the study from this link