Ripple at edge of Milky Way cloaks dwarf galaxy

A ripple in the outskirts of the Milky Way—and a hunch—led Rochester Institute of Technology astrophysicist Sukanya Chakrabarti to a previously undetected dwarf galaxy hidden under a veil of dark matter. Now Chakrabarti is refining her technique to uncover dwarf galaxies and understand dark matter by simulating the evolutionary histories of galactic disks, rich in atomic hydrogen, and their satellite populations.
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Earlier this year, Chakrabarti, assistant professor of physics in RIT’s School of Physics and Astronomy, validated her prediction of a previously unseen satellite galaxy located close to the plane of the Milky Way. In her new study, Chakrabarti and Andy Lipnicky, a Ph.D. student in RIT’s astrophysical sciences and technology program, will create the first “mock” map and catalogue of satellite populations from analyzing extended atomic hydrogen disks.

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