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To: AntiGuv

Interesting, but don't understand why they call it a galaxy. A galaxy is made up of stars, but they said this dark matter galaxy object has no stars...so why call it a galaxy then?


21 posted on 02/23/2005 4:58:21 PM PST by KillTime (Western Civilization herself breathes a sigh of relief as President Bush wins 4 more years.)
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To: KillTime; RadioAstronomer
so why call it a galaxy then?

The most obvious reason would be that the apparent mass involved is of a magnitude that we associate with galaxies. I would also venture to guess that the theroretical formation process also gives rise to a structure that is similar to a "normal" galaxy (disk shaped with a central spherical bulge). So, it the same mass as a galaxy, and probably has the same shape as a galaxy, and we have no other word than "galaxy" to describe objects of that size and shape, so "galaxy" it is, until somebody invents a new term for it.

I hereby nominate "Phlirgoid" as the new sceintific term for a dark matter galaxy.....

25 posted on 02/23/2005 5:25:15 PM PST by longshadow
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