The Vera Rubin Has Found Two More of the Milky Way's Dim Satellites

The Vera Rubin Observatory observing the Milky Way from its location on a mountain top in Chile. In its Early Data Preview 2, the observatory found two new satellites of the Milky Way. One is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, and the other is a globular cluster. They're probably the first of many more the observatory will discover. Image Credit: NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory/AURA/B. Quint

The Vera Rubin Observatory has detected two more of the Milky Ways' dim, hard to see satellites. One is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, and one is a globular cluster. Each one is a missing piece of the puzzle in the Milky Way's merger history. By finding more of these satellites, our understanding of galaxy growth, and the role dark matter plays in it, will improve.

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